CHILDREN'S TEETH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 2, 24 April 1939, Page 2

CHILDREN'S TEETH

SCHOOL DENTAL CLINICS

A BRIEF REVIEW (By A. GL ITultquist M.P.) The immediate aim of the school dental service is lo provide denta» treatment to ail primary school children up to and including Standard -I. This it is proposed to achieve by 19-11. After llmt, the intention is to develop the service until it affords systematic dental treatment to all primary school children and also the eh'ldren of post-primary schools. During the years immediately pre. ceding 15)3(5, th e numbers of dental nurses trained were barely .sufficient to maintain, the. service and very little extension could -be undertaken. Thirty-nine were admitted to training in 15)30; 21 in 15)31; none in 1 5332, 23 in 15)33; 25 in 15)31 and 35) in 15)35. In 15)3(5 51 students wei'c ad. mittcd to training. In 15)37 the number admitted was increased further to 70. The number admitted still further increased to 75 in 193-:>, and the same number are being ap„ pointed in 1939. In 15)35 thr.Tc ■were 53 denial nurse; in training—at present there are 13 ! The number of dental nurses in the

•ieid at the present time is 216 as aaginst 100 in an, increase of .If). Of the I ; >R at present in training, :5'2 are to be transferred to dental clinics throughout the Dominion next month, whuh should raise the total number in the (ieYi to 248. These nurses carry on their work in school denial clinics numbering throughout the Dominion 28.). This number is ')•' more than were in -operation in 1935, when the number was 252. The establishment of school dental clinics at a further 47 centres has been approved which will raise the current number from 285 to '532. fn ndtlilion to these centres, the staff at sevesa! existing clinics has been rein forced to cope with the increased number ol' patients. In December, 1935, the number was 94,2(51 —an in. crease of nearly 10,000. Tt is the policy to include under school age children for treatment wherever the staff is in a position lo do so. It is hoped with the increasing number of dental nurses, it will be possible to include these children at every treatment centre within the near future. The training accommodation availnliie in the past was epiite insulliciont for even enough dental to attend to the leeth of the chil. drcn up to Standard 4. or the a£e of 12. far less to give attention to the' children in the upper standards and ui the post,primary schools, which is the objective of the Government. Tt became early apparent that a new dental clinic was essential, and this 's in the process of being built, on (he old Te Aro school site in Willis Street Wellington. The foundation stone of this up-to-date training school, which will accommodate 100 student nurses, was lanl by the "t. Hon. the Prime Minister on 30th April, 1938, and the building will be ready for occupation this yearTn the meantime, the former Prime Minister's residence in Tinakori Pond has been pressed into service. When the new dental clinic, for the training of the nurses becomes available part of the temporary clinic accommodation can be dispensed with and the remainder can be ut'lised until the full Programme of expansion is eompleted.

WHAKATANE'S POOR RESPONSE

Whakatanc, so far, lias no clinic, hut the Whakatane Dental Committee lias made and is making valiant efforts to raise their quota toward the cost of establishing a clinic here. The site for the clinic is available and the committee ha.s been notified that a nurse is available. Unfortunately. the committee have not met with the success their efforts deserved. Tiic response from the parents and public generally has not come up to expectations and in fact has fallea Car short of the response winch attended the appeals made at Opotiki. Matawai and Te Karaka. Clinics are established at Opotiki and Te Karaka and one is in process of being estab. lished at Matawai., A NEW APPEAL. The local committee is about t" make a further appeal and in this connection will have the support of the tcaehers at the school. I desire to make this special appeal to "H parents to contribute liberally. Some parents might reply with "Oh, our children are now not eligible to receive treatment because they are too j (Continued at foot of next column)

old." But, we arc our brothers" keepers. We have a responsibilty in lil'oto each other. Can our neighbour afford to carry the burden of establishing the clinic without our as. sistance? It is not only for the sake >f our own that we need a clinic. I'tis for the sake of otherg and thov} that are to follow* Ido trust that the committee's further effort will be rewarded with a more liberal response from the parents and publie qnd I can promise that it need not then be very long before a clin'c oi the latest and best type will i c available.