THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1948. NATIONAL DENTAL SCHOOL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26693, 12 February 1948, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1948. NATIONAL DENTAL SCHOOL

The National Dental School in Dunedin is the foundation on which the whole structure of dental services in this country is built. If the facilities provided by it are inadequate in any way the result must ultimately be detrimental to the health of the nation. These two facts should be sufficient to demonstrate the necessity for serious attention to be given to the claim, which is made in an article in our news columns this morning, that a new dental school . is required. Dentistry in New Zealand is a profession in which there is a high average > age among practitioners and consequently a high proportion of replacements is now becoming necessary. This need has been intensified by the introduction of the State dental scheme. At present the school is providing fully qualified dentists at the rate of only thirteen a year. In order to meet the greater demand more students are being admitted annually and the accommodation is now quite inadequate for its purpose. Within two or three years the problem will be so acute that it is feared that the standard of efficiency of graduates may be affected. The gravity of the position is indicated by the statement that, while the building was erected to accommodate from 90 to 100 students for a four-year course, the total roll number is now over 200 and the course has been extended to five years.

The requirements from the National Dental School are that it should provide facilities for- the proper training of a sufficient number of students, for post-graduate studies, and for research, and that it should be an adequate dental hospital for the Dunedin public. It can ’be bluntly stated that the present school does not meet any of these requirements. The need for a new school has been recognised by the staff, by the New Zealand Dental Association and by the Council of the University of Otago and representations have been made to the Government over a lengthy period without any definite results being obtained. The limit has been reached in the way of improvisation in the present building, classes have to be duplicated or even triplicated, and the staff accommodation is not conducive to efficient work. One serious result of the over-crowding is that full attention cannot be given to research work—and dental research, with its emphasis on prevention of disease, must be considered to be one of the most important functions of the school. This research can be done most effectively in Dunedin where there can be co-operation with the Medical School. The problem is a national one—this much must be emphasised —but because of the importance of this institution to the city it is one in which the people of Dunedin have a responsibility to urge upon the Government early recognition of the claims for a new school.