TEETH OF CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19958, 29 May 1928, Page 11

TEETH OF CHILDREN.

SCHOOL DENTAL CLINICS. EXTENDING THE SERVICES. MUCH WORK ALREADY DONE. ! POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 1 ' [BJT TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] MORRINSVILLE. Monday. The great work that the Government is doing to increase the dental efficiency of the rising generation was outlined by the Prime Minister, Mr. Coates, to-day, when he officially opened the school dental clinic at Morr'nsville. The clinic has been established to deal with some eight or nine schools in and around Morrinsville, and the 'necessary money to provide for the ' erection of an up-to-date clinic was raised 5 by the efforts of the combined school com--5 mittees, together with a subsidy from the " Education Department-, which makes a 1 grant up to £2 for £1 for the erection of ® clinics in school grounds. r Mr. Coates said that, in addition to the actual treatment of diseased teeth, and ' oral conditions arising therefrom, the Health Department, through its dental ' division specialises in training the dental nurses to carry on oral hygiene propaganda and fits them to give instruction to children and parents in dental prophylactics or the caring for the human body in such a way as to prevent or reduce to i a minimum the liability to dental disease. The department has taken special care to standardise this propaganda, so that all nurses, not only school dental nurses, but school general nurses and all public health nurses, in addition to school teachers, will be instructed along approved lines, with a view to disseminating among children and parents correct knowledge so as to give the children every opportunity of avoiding as far as possible troubles arising from neglected teeth. Extensive Staff Employed. The department had now nine dental officers and 62 dental nurses in the field, and in training there were 31 first-year probationers and 27 second-year probationers. There had been established 40 single clinics, 16 double clinics, and one training school —a total of 57 clinics. During the year 1927 the dental officers, dental nurses and probationers in training performed the following operations:— Fillings, 116,916; extractions), 66,523; minor operations, 76,656; a total of 260,095. l« The total treatment performed by all > officers of the division since its inception 1 in 1921 was as follows:—Fillings, 414,040; t extractions, 284,800; minor operations, 5 277,781; a total of 976,621. ' Children Under Treatment. The number of children under treatment exclusive of those being treated at the training school was approximately 41,000, and those treated at the training school numbered approximately 14,000; a total of approximately 55,000 children. ' When it was realised that the State prim- ' ary schools' population of the Dominion was over 200,000 pupils, the size of the task being faced by the department could 1 be better appreciated, as it was estimated ' that it would take something like 300 dental nurses to cope with the needs of the " children in the State schools. The numb?r of dental nurses taken into the train- * ing school this year was increased to 35, r and it was hoped, as finances and other considerations permitted, to increase this number and thus enable the service to 5 expand more rapidly than had been pos- * sible in the past. Expenditure During Year. The expenditure under the dental divisr ion for the year 1927-28 was £32,000. The opening of this clinic at Morrins--5 villo, and similar ones in other rural k centres, was evidence that the Governt u . ment was pushing the school dental service out into the country districts, Mr. Coates added. With the increaso in the number of nurses in training the aim of ' the department was that, as they became proficient, to further extend the service " to the country districts.