STATE DENTAL SYSTEM

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 8, 27 December 1928, Page 6

STATE DENTAL SYSTEM

COMPARISON WITH BRISBANE SERVICE. ■ ’ EFFICIENCY OF DOMINION CLINICS. AUCKLAND, Dec. 25. From the point of view of efficiency, economy, and thc s standard of treatment performed,, the dental service provided, for the school-children of New Zealand does not suffer by comparison with the travelling dime operating in Brisbane, according to a report submitted to the Minister of Health (Hon. A. J. Stallworthy) by the director of the New Zealand Division of Dental Hygiene. Ip Brisbane the initial cost ot a dental ambulance, and equipment is £694 10s, 6d, and in New Zealand the initial cost of equipment is only £o3. Tim New Zealand Government .subsidy for the erection of a, “H” 1 type elinie amounts to approximately £l6O. Hi Brisbane, the annual expenses, after deducting the fees received fJ pm adult patients, total £li«4.. The. annual cost in New Zealand where no fees are received is £261, which includes dental supplies for the year. Supplies are not included in the cosr of the Brisbane service. The total operations performed ur Brisbane numbered 3279 for a year, and m the same period in New Zealand the.ro were 2335. The Australian service performs operations at an average cost of 73 shillings, whereas the New Zealand cost is? only 2.3 shillings. i In discussing the question of dental ambulances, the report points out tbit Queensland’s climatic conditions and roads are much, more favourable than those in New Zealand. Denta ambulances would not he able to operate in such districts as Central Otago, where, during several months of the 'year the thermometer is extremely low 1 and Where, lust year, the water had’to be obtained from a, river, as

all tlio other sources were frozen. Even drugs in bottles had to he thawed.. A dental ambulance wa‘ tried out in the North Auckland district some years ago, but in many respects it did not prove satisfactory. The director points out that one most important point in favour of a stationary clinic in use in Now Zealand is that reasonably good aseptic conditions are assured. The Brisbane system, on which this comparison has been made, is more, on the lines of an itinerant service than regular systematic treatment, as provided by the New Zealand Government.