Official Opening of New Dental Clinic at Awanui

Northland Age, Volume XVII, Issue 14, 18 November 1947, Page 4

Official Opening of New Dental Clinic at Awanui

A large crowd of parents and local officials gathered at the Aw r anui primary school on Friday afternoon to witness the official opening of the recently completed Dental Clinic. The ceremony was performed by Dr. R. M. S. Taylor, principal dental officer for the Auckland district, who is at present conducting a three weeks’ tour of the North accompanied -by Mr. L. Rangi of Whangarei, the senior dental officer for North Auckland. The new building is of the “B” type and accommodates one nurse, who j practises in a roomy and well-lighted surgery. There is a small but com- | fortable waiting room plentifully stocked with periodicals and colourfully decorated with a cartoon frieze, in which the youthful patients and visiting parents may wait in pleasant urroundings for attention. With the exception of the waiting room, which is lined with lightly varnished wood, the interior of the building, including the nurse’s retiring room, is painted an attractive duck-egg blue with white ceilings, and the floor throughout is covered with grained inlaid linoleum. The surgery is immaculately equipped with modem instruments, and has been decorated with a view towards encouraging frequent visits from the children. An attractive feature of the appointments are the chromium-plated flush cupboard latches. Here, too, the dental nurse (in this case Miss D. Auld) keeps her records at a trim polished desk. The exterior of the building is as pleasing to the eye as the interior, being finished in deep buff with a red roof. After a short welcoming address by the Chairman of the Dental Clinic Committee, Mr. S. Shaw, the School Principal, Mr. N. F. Shaw, spoke briefly on the importance of the event to the district. Mr. Shaw said that by increasing the facilities for dental treatment, it could be said thqt all those whose assistance had made the opening of the new Clinic possible were nation building. He stressed that by thus improving the health of the individual, so was the health of the nation improved. In his opening remarks, Dr. R. M. S. Taylor said that as a representative of the Department, he expected that many of those present had anticipated that he would regale them with lengthy statistics of the progress of the school dental service, but he assured his audience that this was not his intention. He said that he wished to present himself partly as chief of this particular branch but mainly as a member of the profession. The aim of the service, said Dr. Taylor, was to present a “picture of health” by promoting good health and preventing ill health, not the treatment of disease. It is a well acknowledged fact, he said, that the health and function of the mouth determines the health and function of the body, and that the key to bodily health is dental health. Quoting an international authority, Dr. Taylor said : “In the whole field of preventative medicine, there is not one thing more important than the health of the mouth and care of the teeth.” In elaborating upon the aims of the service, the speaker said that it had not been instituted for the practice of mere dentistry, but for the practice of dental science. It w r as built and depended upon three main supports : the knowledge and skill of the r.urses, the facilities provided for their use, and the co-operation of the parents. At the head of the tripod, he said. -a* the Dental Clinic Committee, which co-ordinates the functions of the three components and provides a firm base upon which the dental nurse can operate and produce her picture of real health. Dr. Taylor made an appeal to parents to take full advantage of the r.ew facilities provided and to enrol pre-school children for treatment from the age of 21 years, reminding them that the clinic was not a tooth hospital but a part of the educational facilities. The presentations of the key, symbolic of the power to make the new r building free to the public, was made to Dr. Taylor by Tony Roberts, and the visitors were then given an opportunity of inspecting the clinic. The function was concluded with a delightful afternoon tea served in the open-air block, when parents and friends mingled freely with the school staff, and Dr. Taylor and Mr. Rangi met members of the Dental Committee.