OUR DENTAL CLINIC

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7912, 8 October 1929, Page 2

OUR DENTAL CLINIC

HEAVY DEMANDS ON WAIHI NURSE PROGRESS OF THE WORK i CARE OF CHILDREN’S TEETH Since the establishment of a schools dental clinic in Waihi a month or two ago, the dental nurse, Miss K. E. Dumbleton, has not had many spare moments during the hours of attendance at the rooms in School lane, where she has been very busy meeting the demands of the children in the primer classes of the Ceneral School for the examination of their mouths and treatment of their teeth. •In common with other schools districts where dental clinics have been established the condition of the children’s mouths has necessitated a lot of very careful attenti m. • “The need for caring for the first teeth in view of the second dentition being affected is, of course, of the utmost importance to the child,” said the nurse in the course of a chat yesterday with a “Telegraph” representative. “The health of the children in future years is largely determined by the condition of their teeth during infancy, and healthy conditions of the mouth should result in a sound constitution. It is quite a common thing to hear parents remark that their children will be losing their first teeth in any case, so why go to the trouble of filling them. It is, of course, true that by the age of eleven or twelve years the last of the first teeth fall out, or may be badly decayed or abscessed and fall from the gums in pieces. Meanwhile, however, no thought is given to the second dentition which will take the place of the milk set, and consequently, these erupt in a decayed condition. Hence the necessity for caring for the milk set. Children of two years of age are taken at the training school and the state of their mouths is in many cases deplorable. The Health Department realises that there is a gap between the time the child leaves the Plunket Society nurse till it reaches the dental nurse for attention. In the intervening months or years as the case may be, all the valuable work done or advice given may be undone, and then it falls upon the dental nurse to begin over again, as it were.

“With regard to the consent forms sent out to parents by the dental nurse, in some cases they, unfortunately, are disregarded altogether, and, of course, although the children are charted and eligible for treatment, nothing can he done for them until the forms are returned to the nurse with the signatures of the parents. This neglect may be an oversight and a second notice is sent. If this second notice is ignored the child concerned ceases to be eligible and the particular chart is marked ‘no treatment to be given.’

PREVENTION OF DISEASE “It is only in recent years that such valuable attention has been paid to the treatment of children’s teeth, brought about by the fact that so many of the present day diseases originate from an unhealthy mouth, caused by abscessed teeth, etc., the impurities from which are absorbed into the system. The prevention of diseases, such as tuberculosis and dental caries, will not be achieved by treatment, but by education and enlightenment. These defects, if neglected, may eventually be the cause of the child’s disability, and in later life they prove detrimental morally, physically and mentally. It may be correctly stated that apart from the influence of heredity, the controlling factors in mouth health are diet and cleanliness. The importance of the care of children’s teeth cannot be stressed too much as dental caries is essentially a disease of childhood and adolesencc and the developing individual appear to be peculiarly susceptible to its invasion, whereas when adult life is reached the tendency to tooth decay is noticeably lessened as in the majority of cases, when the individual has attained full maturity, the progress of tooth decay appears to be arrested. The growth of the jaws, and the regularity and cleanliness of the teeth depend on vigorous chewing, therefore it is essential that as soon as the front teeth appear food that requires the greatest mastication should be given to the child' —crusts, wholemeal bread, toast, apples, etc. If possible each meal should be I'mished with an apple or some other acid fruit. The initial treatment of children’s teeth takes about three months at each school, while in some cases it may take longer, much depending on the condition of the children’s mouths.”

Referring to the dental work in hand, Miss Dinnhleton said that at tile present rate of progress it would seem probable that only the children of tile Central ' and South Schools would be hcnelltcd this year as many of those now in the primer classes in the other schools would pass into Standard 1 before they could be reached and charted. The procedure was to start with Primer 4 and work down to Primer 1 so as to render as many as possible eligible before passing into Standary 1, after which they were not eligible. The initial treatment was followed up by periodical examinations until the child reached Standary 4, when it passed out of the hands of the dental nurse.