N.Z. DENTISTS

Grey River Argus, 22 August 1934, Page 7

N.Z. DENTISTS

ANNUAL CONFERENCE. (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, August 2-1. Ove.- eighty dentists fiom all parts of New Zealand are attending th" 26th annual conference of the Dental Association. which, after executive business yesterday, was. formally opened to-day by the. Mayor. In the course of his presidential add ess, Dr. K. C. Morpeth, of Wellington. said the problem that m.mt be grappled with in the near future was that of the care of the teeth of children whose parents were unable to pay the usual fees. Most dentists unostentatiously did a fair amount of such work, but the problem called for some concerted action. The State dental service did not solve the problem. It was a fact that the children o* many indigent people were placed on a waiting list for six or twelve months before they received treat ment. Oiw reason for the de ay was that children attending secondary schools and children of well-to-do people attended the State service. That was not the fault of the office', s of the service, but unfortunately, they were not able to refuse to attend to the children of such people. “I contend,” he said, ‘ 1 that the Government, should legislate to prevent this injustice to the necessitous classes, and I cannot understand why some of the so-called humanitarians in Parliament do not take steps to remedy this improper state of al fai:s. ’ ’ •Why was it, asked Dr. Morpeth, that the flights of the dental profession into the realm of politics had met so much suspicion and opposition? For totally undefined reasons, the profession had been libellously labelled a “close corporation.” and certain Members of Parliament had consistently used that misnomer tn the detriment of the Association £ ef forts. At present. the dentists of Ne \ Zealand, both members and non-mem-ber.s of the Association, were working for the establishment of a dental council which would efficiently control the profession’s affairs. Allied professions in New Zealand had thengoverning councils, and the dental profession in many parts of the worid was similarly privileged. Tt would be interesting to watch the progress nt this new Bill in Parliament. He did not think the integrity of the dental profession would once more be assailed, for he ventured to predict ♦ h:i( justice would prevail, and that the profession, not the Association, would be given the right to control the af fairs of its members. Dr. Morpeth a’iso suggested that the Association should be given an annual sum of money to found a research scholarship which could be granted to either practitioner on graduate. The quality 'Of the research done at Ihe Otago Dental School -was excellent, but the work was limited by inadequate funds.