Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon
BDS, MDS(OMFS), MBCHB, FRACDS(OMS)
Rakesh is a fully qualified Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, completing his degree in Dentistry in 2000. Following this, he worked as a dental house surgeon in Wellington before spending 2 years in Far North Queensland as part of the itinerant dental service with the Royal Flying Doctors (RFDS). This involved providing dental services to remote Aboriginal communities. He returned to Dunedin to complete his Medicine and Masters at the University of Otago.
He then completed another 4 years of Advanced Surgical Training through the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons (FRACDS) and then undertook a further 3 years of post-Fellowship training in the United Kingdom at the prestigious Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, specialising in orthognathic surgery and the treatment of head and neck cancers (including reconstruction). He returned to NZ and set up Ti Rakau OMS to provide a complete service in all forms of oral, maxillofacial and dentoalveolar surgery.
Rakesh has held previous positions as a Consultant surgeon at the Auckland (ADHB) and Counties Manukau (CMDHB) District Health Boards, involved in the treatment of acute facial trauma, dentofacial infection, dentoalveolar pathology, TMJ and orthognathic surgery. Past Committee roles have included Supervisor of Training (SoT), Regional Surgical Committee (RSC) and NZ Councillor of ANZAOMS. Rakesh has also been significantly involved in non-profit organisations such as Pasifika Dental Association and Smiles of the Pacific.
Areas of Specialisation:
- Wisdom teeth
- Impacted or un-erupted teeth
- Oral cancers
- Dental implants
- Orthognathic surgery including sleep apnoea
- Surgical management of oral pathology
