BETTER TEETH

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 16, 30 December 1932, Page 7

BETTER TEETH

SCHOOL CLINICS’ WORK WAR ON DENTAL DISEASE. IMPROVEMENT IN DOMINION. Teachers and school medical officers have observed a definite improvement in the general health of children in New Zealand as a result of the activities of the School Dental Service, stated Mr. JJ. L. Saunders, Director of the Division of Dental Hygiene, in an interview with the Christchurch ‘‘Press.” As far back as 25 or 30 years the dental profession in New Zealand had been impressed with the need for a general service to attack the problem of dental disease in the Dominion, said Mr. Saunders, and the Government was urged to do something on a large scale to safeguard the dental health of the children.

The seriousness and urgency of the problem was emphasised during the war, when a large proportion of the New Zealanders who offered themselves for service overseas had to be rejected, either temporarily or permanently, on account of dental defects. The result was that immediately after tho war steps were taken to establish the School Dental Service. WORK DONE BY NURSES. Mr. Saunders explained that the service in New Zealand differed from that of any other country in that the work was done here by trained dental nurses, whereas elsewhere it was done by dentists. The service, which in its present form had the approval of the New Zealand Dental Association, actually commenced in 1921, when the first dental nurses were appointed and began training in Wellington. The first school dental clinics were opened two years later, there being about 20 clinics at that time. Since then dental nurses had been appointed eael} year until the present year, when financial difficulties intervened. These drafts of nurses had varied in number from 20 to 40, and with their absorption year by year into the service it had been gradually extended until at the present time there were over 200 clinics established throughout the Dominion, these extending from Whangarei and Dargaville in the north to Invercargill and remote parts of Southland.

"These clinics,’’ continued Mr Saunders, “were not established for the purpose of relieving parents of their responsibility in respect of the dental care of their children, although unfortunately one notices a tendency on the part of some parents to take up that attitude. What the clinics aim to do is to assist parents in looking after the teeth of their children, with the final object of raising the standard of the dental health of New Zealand; and if we can do that it is safe to say it will have a great bearing on the raising of the genral health standard.” PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE The service, said Mr Saunders, endeavoured to work as much as possible on preventive lines, and for that reason children were taken under its care as early as possible. In addition, where circumstances permitted their regular 'attendance was encouraged even before they entered school. In all its work the service had been tremendously helped by the interest and co-operation of the teaching profession, and also the clinic committees, which latter are responsible for finding a proportion of the funds to carry on the work. One wondered sometimes whether the parents of the children concerned appreciated the work which the committees did in their interests.

"Although as yet the service is by no means fully developed,” said Mr Saunders, "it has been in operation long enough to show definite results, but the full and ultimate result of the wor will not be seen until the next generation. From time to time, the system has been examined by authorities in public health matters, all of whom have been favourably impressed with the work being carried out, and with the possibilities of the service.”

In the New Zealand service there are 37 extractions to 100 fillings, and Mr Saunders said that only one other country in the world could show fewer, extractions than fill Ings, the others running up as high as 271 extractions to 100 fillings. The service also concentrates on saving the first teeth, the importance of which could not be overestimated, as the first tee'», if they are unsound, affect the later ones.

“The young women who enter the service carry out their work with great enthusiasm,” he concluded. “The positions are much sought after, and with so many applications it has been possible to set and maintain a very high standard, which is much in the interests of the children who come under the care of the dental nurses.”