Half of the children on the dental surgery waitlist have been waiting for more than four months. 

Health New Zealand data shows nearly three-thousand kids have been waiting for more than 120 days. 

Otago dentistry Senior Lecturer Samuel Carrington tells Ryan Bridge waiting patients have complex issues with their teeth. 

"By the time Tamariki reach hospital care, they're usually in a lot of significant pain and have multiple infected or abscessed teeth," he says. 

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