Keynote address: Principles of oral health services planning

The opportunity exists in the Forum to put together a new vision for the future of oral health for New Zealanders and for an appropriate system to meet their future needs. If we can develop a shared view of that future, it is a simple matter of planning, discussing, and compromising, but moving toward that vision. If we do not have a vision of where we want to be, we have no idea of how to get there. We need a vision of "oral health services in New Zealand" in the private sector, in the public sector--on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, in the specialist practices of Auckland and Christchurch, in rural practices in Waimate and Waihi, on marae from Te Aupouri to Kati Mamoe, in the Executives of the New Zealand Dental Association and the Dental Council of New Zealand, in Government, in district boards to community halls in Mangere. Your vision of the future for oral health and oral health services in New Zealand should be known, talked about, and shared as a national value. If you can achieve nothing more than a shared vision, you have achieved a lot.