DENTAL CARE

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31499, 13 October 1967, Page 20

DENTAL CARE

School Time Lost

Loss of school time for pupils attending the Christchurch Dental Nurses’ Training School instead of dental clinics on home school grounds was recently discussed for three hours and a half by a deputation from contributing schools and the dental authorities, Mrs M. E. Rae told the Canterbury School Committees’ Association.

The Dental Nurses’ Training School made no promises but would consider the submissions, said Mrs Rae. The training school principal (Dr R. B. Nevin) suggested that some proposals' were unworkable and that others posed fresh problems. Mrs Rae said the complaint was raised by the Christchurch East School Committee and discussed by the School Committees' Association, which convened a meeting of the 35 schools affected. meeting sent the deputation.

The case was that school time was primarily for education and too much of this was being lost through visits for dental treatment to the training school, Mrs Rae said. The deputation submitted that a quarter to a third of some classes were taken away one of the two afternoons a week so that school work with the remainder had to be repeated.

The deputation suggested that dental visits be confined to four in six months, that all Christchurch schools contribute pupils to spread the load, and that more student nurses go to school clinics.

The dental authorities emphasised that student nurses had practice on pupils only towards the end of training and under close supervision and inspection. This was not possible in clinics, said Mrs Rae.

The deputation and the association awaited a formal reply to the written submissions.