Not Enough Dentists About For N.Z. Patients

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 29, 3 May 1950, Page 6

Not Enough Dentists About For N.Z. Patients

If you cannot obtain an easy appointment at the dentist do not the dentist. He is having as difficult a time trying to cope with all his work as you have in trying to persuade him to deal with more work.

Dentists could not delegate their work to people not qualified and not registered, stated an officer of the Dental Association when discussing the difficulty of treating all those who sought appointments, The limitations of the Otago Dental. School were preventing the graduation of sufficient students- to build up the number of dentists. The shortage of dentists had its cause as far back as 1936, when the dental profession became comparatively unpopular, he said. As a result the number of dental students decreased. To obtain sufficient dentists it had been estimated in 1946 that 40 to 50 students would have to graduate each year, but the number graduating was only'between 30'and 35 and many of those were bound to serve for some time with State dental services.

Factors causing the greater demand were that more money was now available to- spend on the care of teeth, education disseminated by the dentists and the Health Department on the care of teeth was taking effect and many in the forces during the war had found that regular attention to teeth was a sound policy.