WOMEN DENTISTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19119, 10 September 1925, Page 13

WOMEN DENTISTS.

The part that women are playing in the dental profession at Home is being at last recognised by their male colleag--ues. Women are making their presence felt in private practice too, in dental radiology and in the mechanical processes. It was possible for women to qualify at Edinburgh long before they were admitted to London hospitals. The National Dental Hospital was .the first London institution to admit women, and its example was followed in the early days of the war by the Royal Dental Hospital and the dental department of King's College Hospital. The course of training occupies four years, and an added expense is the outlay of about £SO on instruments. It is possible, however, for women as well as men to win bursaries. Many women have shown preference for.posts as school dentists, but the number of clinics is restricted and competition is keen for the positions. It is estimated that over 85 per cent, of the children in the British Isles have decayed teeth. There is no dental operation in which sex is a handicap, and there is no question of physical strength being necessary. The task of taking X-ray photographes of patients' mouths and the microscopic work connected with research into the causes of dental decay are two highly specialised departments of dentistry, in which a small number of women have achieved considerable success. In a dental workshop the occupation consists mostly of making plaster of Paris casts, regulation plates for children, and finished plates, and there is an unfailing demand for a dental mechanic who shows real skill in accurate fingering.