APATHETIC PARENTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16211, 8 December 1926, Page 12

APATHETIC PARENTS

DENTAL CLINIC SYSTEM

lu,. WORK IN GISBORNI

J Dining the past few months a great ideal lias been heard about the necessity for dental treatment being made available for the children attending the country schools in Poverty Ray, but if the patents are as apathetic as are the ' majority of those of children attending tie town schorls the benefits will be 'small.. Although parents in the first ' instance wc'iv anxious to avail theni- : friyes of the fi'cp dental tyeajlflcnt pt'oi vided for the children, they are in | many rases (no unconcerned to bother I sending their children back for treatI meiit at regular intervals. ; The position with regard to treatment j is that those in charge of the clinic ' commence operations when the children are in the pi'ipiers. The children so treated are throughout tho whole of their school career, ami until they pas,s ouf of slaudard six tfiey.are entitled to receive free dental treat- ) meat.

PARENTS' LAXITY. After a child has been treated; for the first time, the nurse makes arrangpmjuts for the boy or girl to come br.u){ .after .six months to receive further treatment, should that he necessary. In the case of one of the town schools alone no less than 100 children have failed to return, and cannot he traced. In some cases they have left the district, font in so doing they have nrt actually ]ost the benefits of free treatment, provided they have notified those in charge of their change of address.

It would be thought that oner children have been treated, and tl|e teeth put in perfect oyfjlpF, the parents would' take suiljcient interest to send them back again, bid in a great many instances these children do not return. Unless they refurn to the clinic within a reasonable time after llie six months period they will i|ot be treated again, and have thus dost the whole benefit derived from the service. OYE|I 20CO CHILDREN.

By the time the system has been in vogue for six jjears and the nursds are treating all the children attending the town schools, there will be over 2000 children receiving dental attention in Gisborne. The whole of thus wort is d: ne free gf charge, and it is astonishi;.j to find that- the parents are not giv'injT a. greater degree of support to th.ise who are endeavoring fq estahlish the syNeni on a satisfactory fpotiug in the toyrp. 'Treatment is ' never comiflsjjfedj on any child after it has parsed out of the primers, nor will it be recoramonpecj in thosp> cases where people keep theft' children away for several years and' then send theni \\nc\t again when there is & great amount of filling work to be done.