The Press TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1953. Dental Health

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27193, 10 November 1953, Page 10

The Press TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1953. Dental Health

A hopeful account of the future of dentistry was given by Dr. B. G. Bibby, professor of dentistry at the {University of Rochester, in an interi view printed in “ The Press ” last week. The progress that has already been made by dentists in reducing i pain will probably be greatly exceeded in the next 20 years; and this will end perhaps the greatest deterrent to regular dental attention. At the same time the jise of fluoride may very greatly reduce the need for dental attention. Dr. Bibby is sure that it wilL This is very encouraging as far as it goes; but it does not immediately help the present problem, which is that New Zealanders, after having probably the best teeth lin the world at the age of 14, too often have bad teeth by the time they are 21. The best measure of dental health is the number of teeth that a person loses. At the age of 14 only two teeth have been lost for every five New Zealand children, compared with an average loss of one a child at the samg age in the United States, where the of dentistry is highly esteemed. What happens in the next few years to account for the high proportion of New Zealanders who are using false teeth by the time they are 21? Recently it was found that of a group of 21-year-old recruits for the New Zealand territorial forces 40 per cent had, or needed, false teeth, possibly an extreme example but indicative of a national weakness. The teeth of these young men had not suddenly deteriorated; what had deteriorated was the care given to them.

Most children in New Zealand have their teeth well cared for by the State until they are 16. They are regularly seen, first by dental nurses and then by dentists, who make necessary repairs. If young people continue to get regular dental attention most of them keep thenown teeth beyond their youth. Some do; and it may be suspected that their teeth would be cared for in childhood, too, even if there were no school service or social security. Apart from carelessness, fear of being hjirt and disinclination to pay for dental work are possibly the two principal reasons why young people neglect their teeth, although they are irrational reasons if weighed against the probability of greater suffering and greater expense when neglected teeth have to bp pulled cut and replaced with artificial ones. The Health Department, dental nurses, and dentists have consistently tried to encourage regular care of the teeth. Results show that they have not been altogether successful; but that does not mean that they should relax their efforts. No opportunity should be lost of impressing on young men and women, and, particularly, on their parents, that most people can keep for a good many years their own teeth, which look better, feel better, and work better than anything that can be put in their place; and that the sooner false teeth have to be used the less likely they are to be satisfactory as their wearers grow older. Quite apart from any considerations of health and comfort, the people of New Zealand may well wonder whether it is worth spending £1,000,000 or more to keep children’s teeth in good order when much of the good work is soon undone. The improvement noticed by Dr. Bibby in the last 18 years shows that this expenditure is well justified; but the results are not yet good enough.