DENTAL HEALTH IN SCHOOLS

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28399, 4 October 1957, Page 14

DENTAL HEALTH IN SCHOOLS

Big Improvement Noted

Many persons who consider the high rate of dental decay in New Zealand have thought that the establishment of the school dental service has made little difference to the New Zealand dental problem. However, surveys show this is not so. according to the report of the Director of the Division of Dental Hygiene (Mr J. B Bibby) in the annual reoort of the Department of Health

A survey was made in 1916 of 836 school children, between the ages of five and 14. It showed that only two children had perfect teeth, whereas the latest figures for a similar survey in an urban area would show that 14.5 per cent., or about 121 in 836. of children between five and six years old have perfect teeth. Two children aged five in the 1916 survey had already lost all their teeth, while 116 had chronic alveolar abscesses (commonly known then as “gum-boils”) discharging into the oral cavity Today. no children have these abscesses. while practically no children of five have lost all their teeth The number of children that had their first .permanent teeth extracted in 1916 was 280—in a similar group today the figure would be 22. The 836 children surveyed in 1916 still required 2546 extractions, or more than three a child, while only 27 of them did not require fillings or extractions, or both. Regular Care Nearly all children today come under regular dental care but. despite the marked improvement in the dental condition of younger! children, there is still an average of 6.6 defective teeth in all children between the ages of five and six, says the report.

Another set of figures illustrated the general improvement in the ratio of teeth extracted to teeth preserved by filling, in the school dental service. The ratio in 1924 was 78.6 extractions to 100 fillings, and by 1935 the figure had fallen to 17.5 extractions to every 100 fillings. The figure for last year was 5.7 extractions for every 100 fillings, which includes not only teeth removed as unsavable. but also extractions required in the treatment of malocclusion, and the extraction of loose first teeth.