DENTAL CONDITION OF ADOLESCENTS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25253, 4 August 1947, Page 8

DENTAL CONDITION OF ADOLESCENTS

SURVEY OF CHILDREN IN NEW ZEALAND

<P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 2. The calcium requirements of the average person were greater between the ages of 13 and 16 than at any other time in life, said Dr. R. E. T. Hewat, who is organising the survey of the dental condition of children between those ages, which is btfing instituted by the dental committee of the Medical Research Council.

Each child will be X-rayed to find even incipient cases of dental caries, and children who have been life-long residents in the same locality will be selected so as to assess the importance of regional variations in the mineral content of soil and drinking water. Parents should realise the need for reinforcing diet with an abundance of calcium-containing foods, especially milk and milk products, Dr. Hewat said. Milk was actually more important to adolescents than to schoolchildren, who received their daily bottle of milk. While field officers under Dr. Hewat will do practical investigation, experimental research is being carried out at the Otago Dental School, under the direction of the dean (Dr. J. Walsh).