DENTAL SURGEON URGES RESTRICTED USE OF SUGAR

Grey River Argus, 25 August 1948, Page 4

DENTAL SURGEON URGES RESTRICTED USE OF SUGAR

Harmful Effects on Teeth P.A. WELLINGTON, August 24.. The day after the announcement of the abolition of sugar rationing, a suggestion that sugar be fairly restricted in distribution to the public, in the interests of dental hygiene, was made by a prominent denral surgeon. He is president of the New Zealand Dental Association, Dr. R. E. T. Hewat, who referred to the subject in the rourse of an. address to the conference of the association to-auy. “.I submit that enough is known of the harmful effects of sugar and refined cereals, more particularly on teeth of adolescents, to justify some control over their consumption,” he said. “We are witnesses of the paradoxical situation that the dental services are continually being expanded to check the ravages of dental caries in the teeth of children who remain exposed to the influence of a substance which has no nutritional value and which can safely be omitted in its pure form from the diet.” Dr. Hewat suggested that the amount of sugar available, be reduced, year by year, and if compensation to the sugar interests was considered necessary, the expenditure would be balanced by the reduction in the amount of public money spent on dental treatment. He paid a tribute to the amount of dental research undertaken, but said that New Zealand’s knowledge of preventive measures still lacked wholeness and required integration and synthesis of its various bits and pieces, before it could be used as a reliame and effective weapon to prevent’ dental disease.