MORE APPOINTMENTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18360, 31 March 1934, Page 3

MORE APPOINTMENTS

SCHOOL DENTAL NURSES SUCCESS OF. SERVICE PROVED BY SAVED TEETH (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Appointments will shortly be made by the Public Service Commissioner of h 0 probationers for training as school dental nurses. This is an indication that the school dental service, which in common with many other departments of State has had to be somewhat restricted during difficult times, is at- least going to continue its work at normal puce, for these appointments are to replace, the losses Which occur in the staff, mainly as tue result of marriage, and through retirements,' though the dental nurses after receiving two years’ intensive training, have to complete their contract by serving a minimum of three years in the school dental service. That the work is attractive to women is indicated by the fact, mentioned by the Hon. J. A. Young, Minister in charge of the department, that no fewer than 270 applications were, made for these positions. The Minister added that the great bulk were of high standard, and the selection process includes personal interviews by responsible officers. “There were no appointments in the year 1932,’’ added the Minister, “and this year’s selection will replace the usual wastage of staff,'and provide as far as practicable for extended service where the clinics have grown, as Well as complying as far as possible with new applications subject to satisfactory financial arrangements being made. Tiie? conditions for establishment of new clinics include the provision through local agency of the building, for it is regretted that in these difficult times no subsidy can be paid by tiie State for buildings. The local committees also undertake maintenance expenses, such as cleaning, lighting and heating, and while the department finds the salary of the dental nurse, the local committee is asked to contribute £3O per annum towards the cost of materials and drugs used, a sum which barely meets that expenditure. In raising the contribution, some committees make a charge of not more than 5s per annum for each child treated, but the department does not insist on the individual charge, leaving the raising of the £3O entirely to the initiative of the committee, which might do it through the medium of voluntary collection or social gatherings.”

THOUSANDS OF TEETH SAVED The school dental service aims at early treatment as a preventive measure against dental decay, and the Minister was able to demonstrate from the experience of over 12 years of its work, that this ideal is being achieved in a very substantial way. The service is concerned to prevent dental decay, and endeavors to give regular and systematic treatment to school children, starting as early as possible —in the pre-school ages if desired by parents—and continuing through the primer classes until the child leaves the fourth standard. In no case is original treatment commenced if the child lias moved out of the primer classes.

“When the system was first inaugurated among the school children,” remarked Mr. Young, "their teeth were found to be so decayed that instead of being able to deal with , them by filling, and other methods of preserving the first teeth, many extractions had to be undertaken. In "the early days of the service, the proportion of extractions was greatly in excess of the number of fillings. In 1921-22, for instance, there had to be 239 extractions to every 100 fillings, but the results of systematic attention have been surprisingly good, the ratio of extractions falling rapidly every year, until last year fewer than 10 per cent, of the teeth" receiving treatment had to be extracted. There were 31,539 fillings to 3046 extractions. These figures fully support the view that as the service extended, and with it the knowledge-of dental hygiene, the number of unsaveable teeth would gradually diminish, and the results also square with one of the conditions laid down by the Board of Education in Great Britain, that for a satisfactory dental service, treatment should be conservative in character—by filling rather than extraction.”

WIDE RANGE OF SERVICE, There are 11 dental surgeons and 205 nurses in the dental service, and its work is wonderfully well distributed, covering almost the whole of New Zealand; including remote points of the east coast of the North Island, where there are large numbers of native children receive mg regular attention, and extending down to Stewart Island. The schools linked up with the system total 1500, and children receiving treatment number 78,000. The school dental centres total 141, and associated with them are 97 sub-centres, periodically visited by the school dental nurse from the nearest main centre. A good (leal of economy lias been secured by grouping schools for treatment in an easily reached centre of their district. Taihape, for instance, has a clinic attended by the children from 26 surrounding schools, and at Masterton 24 schools, some 40 miles distant on the east coast, are covered by the clinic in the town. In Palmerston North, where two clinics operate, 27 schools having 13C0 scholars of tlid age for dental, treatment are served. “It may fie an indication .of improving times, as well as appreciation of the. work of the school dental clinics,’’ added Mr. Young, “that recently there has been a marked increase in the number of applications for new clinics.”