Working To Improve Dental Health Of Nation

Chronicle (Levin), 16 July 1948, Page 3

Working To Improve Dental Health Of Nation

"All over New . Zealand doctors, nurses, domestie science teachers, dentists. : and- dental • nurses- are wbridng to impirbye the. geiieral health and the dehtal health of the people," said Miss M.' Stevens, education nufse fojf dental health, at " a meetihg ' the Shannon Parents-Teachers' ;A&^ciatihn: on i Monday' evehing. For 27 years- the school dental; service had been ! growlng until today if catered for , all school age children, ak well asj toany of pre-school age. The sped.ker outlined the stages of a deiital .nurse's • trainlng and explaihed why it had to be so wide. The dental .nurse was required' to teach; as well as practise dentistry. Mlss Stevens stressed th.e value of preventive measures being* taken against dental disease, and explained that -it did hbt foliow that" the child whpse parents bbth. had "bad , teeth would.himself haVe :bad teeth. I ;If the riecessary preciautions were taken, eyerybnfe ' could have good, h'ealthy '"•teeth. • .Ih New Zbaland it was, a simple matter to maintain a balanced diet. ' ■ ! I "A- normal body requires food to I provide, ih' the first place, heat and energy. . T^pical " foods for this furietion are brqad, butter, fat, bacon, oatmeal, riee, tapioca, sugar, sweets; cake and. honey. In the second plac,e, foods which provide protection from disease. are neces- . sary, some of these being milk, 1 cheese,- eggs, meat and fish, together with foods which provide vitamins and mjheral salts, such as fresh fruit and vegetables." Speaking of balancing the diet, Miss Stevens said that according to the work done, people wouid choose from the first list sufflcient for needs. "What was eaten beyond that merely turned to fat and was •stowed away for future usq, The important thing was to have sufflcient of the protective foods every day. This threw the responsibility of "planning" on the housewife. ^Miss Stevens decried the diet "crajik," and stated .that all that was necessary waa to know the body requireqients and the foods in which they . were foimd, and to see that they were cboked in the correct way. Green ■ vegetables should becooked as. quickly as possible in a minimum of water, which should be boiling and salted before the vegetables were added, and be returned as quickly as possible to; boiling point. lodised salt should always. be used. Teeth should be cleaned immediately after every meal' by eating raw fruit or with a tooth-brush. After explaining teeth decay, Miss Stevens asked for. the fullest cooperation of. all parents, She. asked that advice be accepted and acted uporu ! - -