ADVANCES IN DENTISTRY

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27191, 7 November 1953, Page 3

ADVANCES IN DENTISTRY

PROGRESS IN AMERICA DESCRIBED DR. B. G. BIBBY REVISITS NEW ZEALAND “I shall be disappointed if we cannot make a technical revolution in dentistry in the next 20 years.” said Dr. Basil G. Bibby, professor of dentistry at the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester and director of the Eastern Dental Dispensary, in an interview in Christchurch. Dr Biddy was asked whether dental patients could look forward to the introduction of relatively painless treatment. “I am optimistic about that',” he said. “I think that we are going to make considerable progress in that field.” Dr. Bibby said he . was a New Zealander who had gone to the United States about 30 years ago in the course of a grand world tour, and got “stuck there.” He had been in the United States ever since, except for a visit to New Zealand in 1935.

Work was being done in America on several new types of cutting procedures for the preparation of cavities for dental fillings, said Dr. Bibby. In one instance, a high-speed, ultra-sonic vibrator was being used. The vibrator, which had a chiselling effect, appeared likely to be a successful innovation. A great deal of work had also been done with high-speed cutting tools, some of it at the Otago Dental School. These tools operated at speeds up to about 10 times that of the Usual instruments, and cut through teeth like butter. There were some difficulties about them; for example, they wore out quickly.

New Filling Materials • Research was progressing on the use of filling materials that did not need the preparation of elaborate cavities, and had the effect of preventing new decay in the region of the filling, said Dr. Bibby. It was felt that certain plastic materials could be adopted to restore teeth without so much cutting as was now necessary. Research workers were actually just starting to “scratch” the possibilities of incorporating agencies such as the fluorides, which could be used to prevent dental decay. Investigations were being made in the treatment of teeth with a variety of compounds which would give longer protection than, for example, the year’s immunity provided by a treatment with a topical fluoride, said Dr. Bibby. “I feel that the public health authorities in New Zealand have been overcautious in their attitude to fluorine,” said Dr. Bibby. In the United States, no-one questioned that the addition of fluoride to public water supplies was effective in preventing dental decay. It was his own feeling that the results of experiments carried out in places like San Francisco, Rochester, and Virginia—regions of temperate climate —could be transposed to New Zealand with absolute safety. It was just a waste of money to continue filling teeth when dental decay could be prevented by cheaper procedures. The addition of fluoride to water suplies was the best established way of doing that, as everybody in the community was covered, Dr. Bibby said.

In New Zealand, possibly 40 or 50 per cent, of the population did not draw its water front public supplies, but if the dental services were able to concentrate their efforts on this group, he believed that the whole country would benefit.

Topical Fluoride Procedure Dr. Bibly said he was the “father of the topical fluoride procedure”—the application of fluoride directly to the teeth. When the effect of fluorine in water bn teeth was being studied, it had been found that it worked largely on the outside of teeth. It had then been suggested that if applications of higher concentrations of fluoride were made to the teeth, they would reduce decay. That did not give such effective protection as fluorine in the water supply, but it reduced dental decay by about half.

“My impression is that the dental appearance of the public has considerably improved since I was last/here in 1935,” said Dr. Bibby. “Tlrat is. I think, particularly true at the younger level. Unfortunately, the artificial teeth look better, too. Dentists have become too proficient at making substitutes, so that it diminishes the penalty of letting one’s own teeth deteriorate.” There were several factors responsible for the improvement in teeth in New Zealand, he said. These included the restorative work done by dentists and the State Dental Service, and the dental consciousness that the Dental Service and dentists had aroused in the people. There was now a generation of young mothers who had had dental treatment themselves, and were now more in favour of it.. People had confidence in dentists and the value of treatment, and much

credit for that position was due to the profession. Dr. Bibby was born in Hawke’s Bay. He graduated in dentistry from the Otago Dental School. For one year he was a member of the staff of the Christchurch Public Hospital, before returning to the staff of the Dental School. He practised for a short time before going to the United States in 1930.

A brother of Dr. Bibby, Dr. J. B. Bibby, is Deputy-Director of the Division of Dental Hygiene of the New Zealand Health Department. Dr. Bibby is spending six months on a Fulbright lectureship at the Otago Dental School.