NATIONAL HEALTH SCHEME

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22198, 15 September 1937, Page 4

NATIONAL HEALTH SCHEME

preventive efforts ADVOCATED CONFERENCE OF DENTAL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS The hope that the Government, when considering the machinery of a national health scheme. Would give full importance to prevention, as distinct from remedial and reparative treatment, was expressed by Mr J. J, Faulkner, of Hastings, in his presidential address at the twenty-eighth annual conference of the NeW Zealand Dental Association, which opened yesterday in Christchurch. “The year 1937 marks an Important historical event for this association, lor as you all know, we have at last been granted a representative body styled a Dental Council,” said Mr Faulkner. “We now have a School of Dentistry, a State dental unit, and this new body, soon to bring down essential rules governing our professional lives. It seems an opportune time to review What might be described as the dental outlook, particularly, in relation to its effect upon the health of “In* making research dealing with the human teeth we are fortunate in that we have access to skulls of people who inhabited this earth many centuries ago, and we can also example the teeth and jaws of living primitive races who are so far removed “o*° contact with our civilisation as to be living in what we call natural conditions, owing mainly to their being unable to procure our foods. Effect of Civilisation “The greatest changes, both physical and mental, were brought about in the human race when methods of agriculture and the storage of food AVere discovered. The old nomadic life could be abandoned, and people could congregate in closely settled areas. Later towns and cities arose With all their opportunities for the growth of arts and sciences and all those things that We group under the title of civilisation. People like the Australian aborigine, who failed to discover any Way of growing and storing food, remained in their original slate until they actually came in contact with divilised races, “Physically, man has paid and is still paying a tremendous price for the application of this knowledge, and It is the purpose of this presidential address to try to prove that it is not necessary that this should be the case. These changes In environment and food were at first very gradual, and man Is adaptable both physically and mentally, but his reactions are In definite relationship to the rate at which these changes occur. Furthermore, in older times the law of the survival of the fittest was a most important factor. It operated in the same way as what is known as ‘culling* does upon the flocks and herds Of the modern farmer. "Health-Mlndedness” “In a recent article dealing with the duties of the game wardens of the enormous reserves In Africa, the following Is worthy of note: Tt has been proved beyond contradiction that it is most unfortunate biologically for any herd or family to harbour the decrepit and diseased.’ In dealing with the human race this aspect cannot be Considered, so it remains to concentrate on the prevention of disease, and the more We study this subject* the more must we be impressed by the tremendous amount of research that has already been done, and the poor • results in practical benefits. “The reason for all this lost endeavour is that outside .of the so-.called healing professions few take any interest in the subjects. People are not yet health-minded. Success in life m some form or other, sport, music, a hundred and one interests, are the main things, and health is not thought of until it is lost. The farmer or the animal fancier makes a been study of everything relating to the health of his charges, and diet is recognised ns of paramount importance. In the event of stock diseases he can call upon a well-equipped State department to come to his assistance, and once a year he can attend lectures embracing a wide range of farming activities. It is evident to all how essential it is from the point of view of financial prosperity to the country as a whole, to have its farming carried on correctly and therefore the education of the farmer is a matter of im portance. But surely if only from a humaflitarian point of view the health of the human race must come before most things, and it is high time that some concerted action was developed Upon lines that to stem the alarming increase in what are mostly preventable diseases. Defective Diet "Dr, Weston Price has made a life study of thisf subject, and has carried his researches to many parts of the world. In dealing with alpine districts he states that in one village he visited three persons would have to be examined to find one defective tooth. In a population of two thousand there is not a single doctor or dentist. They "are not needed because isolation has compelled the people to live on natural foods. In speaking of another district he says: . ~ ‘“Over and over again we had. the experience of examining a young man or young woman and finding that at some period of his life caries had been rampant, arid hOd suddenly ceased, but during the stress many teeth had been lost. When we would ask such people if they had gone out of the mountains and at what age. they would generally say at 18 or 20 years of age. They stated they had never had a decayed tooth before they went, or since they returned.’ “In the Islands lying off part of the coast of Scotland, Dr. Price found physical perfection and freedom from decay of the teeth; in those living on the primitive natural foods, whereas the opposite was the case of those living in the ports and one serious effect in the latter was the rapid progress of tuberculosis. I could quote endless similar examples which go to prbvo wrong diet to be the principal cause of caries of the teeth and many other diseases as well. I could refer to the valuable work of Dr. Pickerill upon the teeth of our own Maori race. Policy of Prevention “In this country we are now promised a health scheme providing remedial and reparative treatment for the people. How will that operate? For purposes of comparison let us review the question of motor accidents. Would it have any good effect if the Government announced that In order to remedy the position that had arisen it had been decided to have ambulances and surgeons waiting in proximity to all dangerous corners, and that free hospital and nursing attention would be provided for all sufferers? Actually the policy that is being followed is the removal of dangerous corners, the elimination of bad railway crossings, and last, but not least, education of the public—in other words, a policy of prevention. “I feel I am voicing the wish of every member of this association when I say that we earnestly hope that our Government, when considering a health scheme for- the people of this Dominion, will give full importance to this vital question of prevention.”