Abstract
There are no reports on the oral health of adult Syrian refugees who have been resettled in New Zealand. A self-administered Arabic language questionnaire was distributed to students of community English classes, all of whom arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand, from Syria as refugees from December 2014 to June 2017. The questionnaire included items on self-reported oral health, utilisation of oral health services and oral healthrelated quality of life. Only two in five had received dental check-ups since arriving in Dunedin, nearly three in four reported dental pain within the past month, and two in three reported that their oral health problems affected their quality of life ‘often’ or ‘very often’ during the past month. Almost all former refugees qualify for limited financial support for dental care in New Zealand but many still reported finances were a major barrier to care.
Conclusion: High unmet need for dental care is causing pain, embarrassment, worry, and reducing quality of life, among former refugees who have recently resettled in Dunedin, New Zealand.