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Community Smiles

A big thank you to all that applied for our community smiles promotion and those that voted. We were overwhelmed with the amount of applications that we received.
Congratulations to our four previous winners:

Jo Sutton, Dylan Vermaak and Rob Tretheway!


Read their stories below..

Jo Sutton

Community Smiles

Age: 45 years old

“25 years ago I was seriously injured when a vehicle I was a passenger in went through a red light in Takapuna and collided with another vehicle. I suffered an array of injuries including a fractured neck, spine, elbow, ribs and internal injuries which put me into hospital for a couple of months. As well as losing about ¼ of my face I also lost several teeth and a small part of my jaw. I went through years of cutting edge plastic surgery to reconstruct the right hand side of my face and allow me the use of the remaining vision in my right eye.

Fortunately I was young, fit and healthy so after a year or so of rehab I was able to get on with my life, build a career, go on my OE and have 3 beautiful children. I decided long ago not to continue with any more plastic surgery as I am pretty happy in my own skin these days. However, my teeth have been an ongoing problem – teeth damaged in the accident then died and required root canals or extraction, my previously pristine teeth became decayed after extended periods of time on powerful medication and my ill-fitting denture causes mouth ulcers and discomfort (not to mention absolute embarrassment if they pop out while I am chewing on food!)

With 3 kids and a busy life it has been hard to find the money (and time!) to deal with these problems but Northmed’s Community Smiles programme may just give me the chance to fix some of these issues. I’ve always been a person who smiles in the face of adversity but it would be great to feel really good about my smile again!”


Rob Tretheway

Community Smiles

Age: 31 years old

“25 years ago I was seriously injured when a vehicle I was a passenger in went through a red light in Takapuna and collided with another vehicle. I suffered an array of injuries including a fractured neck, spine, elbow, ribs and internal injuries which put me into hospital for a couple of months. As well as losing about ¼ of my face I also lost several teeth and a small part of my jaw. I went through years of cutting edge plastic surgery to reconstruct the right hand side of my face and allow me the use of the remaining vision in my right eye.

Fortunately I was young, fit and healthy so after a year or so of rehab I was able to get on with my life, build a career, go on my OE and have 3 beautiful children. I decided long ago not to continue with any more plastic surgery as I am pretty happy in my own skin these days. However, my teeth have been an ongoing problem – teeth damaged in the accident then died and required root canals or extraction, my previously pristine teeth became decayed after extended periods of time on powerful medication and my ill-fitting denture causes mouth ulcers and discomfort (not to mention absolute embarrassment if they pop out while I am chewing on food!)

With 3 kids and a busy life it has been hard to find the money (and time!) to deal with these problems but Northmed’s Community Smiles programme may just give me the chance to fix some of these issues. I’ve always been a person who smiles in the face of adversity but it would be great to feel really good about my smile again!”


Dylan Vermaak

Community Smiles

Age: 28 years old

“My wife nominated me for this awesome competition – I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive – I had visions of my broken, battered smile plastered across billboards for thousands of people to see (and I won’t even let my wife look in my mouth). Growing up, oral care was not a priority in my mum’s house, and I didn’t understand the consequences, until I had grown up. When I brush, floss or even look at my teeth in the mirror I get nervous, worried I may damage my teeth more (it is that scary). My wife has a beautiful set of teeth and we have made it a priority to instill good oral hygiene in our son’s routine. Our 2-year-old, rambunctious toddler loves to floss and brush and we try to make it as fun for him as possible.

My wife says I used to have a great laugh but honestly, I can’t remember, nowadays I keep my laughs low key as I don’t want to scare anyone close by. Winning this competition wouldn’t just improve my confidence, but also change the way a little boy sees his daddy (I’d also be more likely to give my wife’s dirty jokes a good belly laugh). Thank you Northmed Dental for giving back to our wonderful community, and I too, will pay it forward.”


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