HALF RECRUITS NEED DENTURES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 196, 15 May 1940, Page 8

HALF RECRUITS NEED DENTURES

Revelation Of War

PLEA FOR BETTER DIET AMONG PEOPLE

Eighty to 90 per cent, of the recruits in the army in New Zealand require denial treatment and 50 per cent, require artificial dentures, said Colone. T A. Hunter, former director of the division of dental hygiene of the Department of Health, at the opening yesterday of the new Wellington Dental Cliuie and Dominion Training School for Dental Nurses. Colone. Hunter organized the school dental seiviee 20 years ago, and was the first director of the division. He and several other speakers deplored the state of the teeth of New Zealanders, aud urged them to improve their diet. Colonel Hunter said he had watched the expansion of the service with feelings mixed with regret at the necessity for it. The food of New Zealanders was at fault, and dental disease was largely preventible. His late friend, Sir Truby King, had held that view also. Sir Truby King had led a crusade for the health of women and children. The speaker said he wanted to see the women of New Zealand joining with the dental nurses in another crusade. Much could be done by the use of plain and proper food, and the avoiding of refined and concentrated foods. If he had his way he would abolish the tuck shops that nourished near schools. It was obviously absurd to have a tuck shop and a clinic side by side. The figures showing the dental condition of the men enlisting in the New Zealand forces were startling. They were worse than in 1914. It was an appalling state of affairs, and it meant that those young men had suffered from septic conditions that might have permanently damaged their stamina. He found it bard to understand the apathy of the public. The prevalence of dental disease was a reproach to the country. Dr. M. H. Watt, Director-General of Health, an earlier speaker at the ceremony. said that the evidence that dental decay was due to faulty diet was convincing. Officers of the department were seriously handicapped by damage having been done before children came of school age. There must be close supervision of the diet of the expectant mother, of the pre-school child and of the school child. Any improvement in the national diet could be expected to reduce dental disease and make more efficient the school dental service. Dr. Watt mentioned the propaganda the department bad undertaken for the improvement of diets. Referring to the fact that the school dental service was inaugurated when it was discovered during the last great war that the condition of New Zealand soldiers’ teeth was so bad, the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, said that it was a reflection on our civilization that a catastrophe such as war was needed to shock people out of their ignorance and complacence.