Association CEO Index 2024 - Flipbook - Page 53
Association CEO Index 2024
53
Business feature
Dr Mo Amso
Chief Executive, New Zealand Dental Association
(NZDA)
Wet-fingered dentistry. A strange term likely to be
understood by dentists but utterly mystify – and
potentially gross out – the rest of us.
It references a time in the industry, roughly before the
mid-1980s, when dentists did not wear gloves (preHIV/AIDS). They literally had their hands in the mouths
of their patients every day.
As both a practising dentist and the Chief Executive of
the New Zealand Dental Association (NZDA), Dr Mo
Amso is the truest contemporary embodiment of wetfingered dentistry.
Because when it comes to fighting the good fight for his
members, his profession and his patients, his gloves are
definitely off.
Mo, named New Zealand’s Young Dentist of the Year in
2019, spends four days a week at the NZDA and one
day a week treating special needs patients in a public
hospital in Auckland.
A duality that affords him a unique and confronting
perspective, sitting as he does at the fulcrum of
advocacy for both service provider and receiver.
“A big part of what we do as an association is
advocating for our profession to stakeholders and
government,” Mo says.
“The patients I see in hospital are cancer patients,
transplant patients, intellectually handicapped,
wheelchair bound, elderly, geriatric, autistic or they
have Down Syndrome.
“A lot of these people really don't get to access quality
care on a regular basis, and they end up coming to
hospital when things are too late and they need access
to general anaesthesia and things are falling apart.
“There is this constant reminder one day a week when I
see those patients that what I do with the association
when it comes to advocacy, when I get angry at a
meeting with a government body, it's not coming
from nowhere.
“It's informed by my practice and what I see in my clinic,
where the disparities are evident, and I've had people
cry in my chair and say they can't afford care.
“It's upsetting and it's not right. We need to change it.
“And you know, I appreciate being able to say to
patients sometimes when they complain that ‘I have
another hat (as NZDA CEO) and with my other hat,
I'm going to fight for you because I think you
deserve better’.”
Mo concedes the good fight is “very aspirational”,
especially given the slow pace of change at a public
policy level.
“But when you bring in that level of lived experience, I
know what I need to say (when advocating) and it’s a
simple message,” he says.
“Care should be available, and accessible funding
should be available. And if we can't fund everyone,
which we can't, let's start by funding the people who
need it most.”
Mo was 15 when his family migrated to New Zealand
from Iraq in 1999. His father is an engineer, his mum is
an accountant, and his sister is a journalist, but Mo
always wanted to work in health care. Dentistry was a
surprise, especially after he initially gained a
neuroscience degree.
“I really enjoy dentistry. It’s a lovely career and a big
passion of mine.
“I think being a practising dentist and an association
leader does introduce an element of reliability and
authenticity for our members.
