FIGHTING TOOTHACHE

Grey River Argus, 28 August 1937, Page 3

FIGHTING TOOTHACHE

REPORT AT DENTAL CONGRESS. SYDNEY, August 19. Progress in the war against the hell of all diseases,” toothache, as described by Robert Burns, was referred to at the ninth Australian Dental Congress of the Australian Dental Association yesterday. Seven hundred delegates took par., in seven defined groups, for postgraduate lectures, demonstrations and discussions. It was a far cry from the days when the itinerant tooth extractor went round in his caravan and plied his haphazard trade. The patient, unremitting search for knowledge was outlined in a way that made the layman wonder. Films were screened of actual dental operations, showing the approaches by various dental surgeons to different problems revealed in Xray photographs. Lectures in oral surgery and practical demonstrations were conducted at the clinics at Sydney Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Dental Hospital. Radiology and research clinics assembled at the Medical School at the Sydney University. At the Dental Hospital, Mr. Percy Clark commenced the treatment of patients with infected gums for the information of a group of dentists, and will demonstrate the progress of the patients on Thursday and Friday. In the course of a lecture, Dr. Cecil D. Hearman declared that the people of Sydney could be saved an annual dental bill of £1,000,000 if the people ate the right foods. Dr. Hearman, who is lecturer in preventive and children’s dentistry at Melbourne University, blamed modern diet for tooth decay. Australian aborigines in their natural state, he said, showed no tooth decay; but as soon as they were taken on to station work and paid in flour and sugar, dental caries became rampant among them. “Wean children on fruit, bread rusks and meat. Give them a bone to gnaw, or a hunk of meat to tear to pieces. Cut out the stage of sweet and sloppy foods at weaning,” he said.

To-day the congress will devote itself to a round of social and sporting engagements, including golf at the Killara Golf Club, where there will be an 18-holes competition versus par for the Congress Trophy. The Killara Bowling Club, the White City Tennis Courts and the Pymble Golf Club will also be the venues for games. The Sydney University Dental Undergraduates’ dinner, at the Carlton Hotel, the Army Dental Services dinner at the Imperial Service Club, and a smoke concert and talkies at the University Union will make up the programme.