TEETH OF RECRUITS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2662, 6 January 1916, Page 2

TEETH OF RECRUITS

THE DENTAL SCHEME

DETAILS ANNOUNCED

Wellington District Headquarters announce that the following are details of tho scliemo whereby men who cannot bo accepted for active service on account of bad teeth may lit themselves for tho front: — Attention is directed to the organisation, etc., of the Now Zealand, Dental Servieo Corps. One of the objects of its formation is to deal with recruits suffering from defective teeth, and 1 thus make them fit for active service. A dental recruiting officer (or officers, according to the sine of tho district) is to be appointed to act ; in conjunction with tho medical examiner, at all recruiting centres wherever possible. In (small towns one will probably bo found sufficient; in larger towns it may be found necessary to appoint more. Their duties will be to examine and chart the mouth of each recruit, decide whether ho is dentally fit or not; if not, he shall allocate him with his chart direct to a member of the branch, who will then decide and carry out what treatment is necessary. The examiner will have a list of members of the branch and apportion the recruit-s to each in rotation, • provided the recruit does not wish to go to his own dentist; provided, also, that his dentist undertakes to carry out dot-ails of scheme. The examination fee is Is. per recruit. The recruit should be asked whether he can afford treatment or not; if so, the dentist will collect his own fees; if not, the Defence Department will pay at the following rates-.—Extractions, with local anaesthetic, Is.; plastic fillings, 2s. 3d.; anaesthetics, 65.; full upper and lower dentures, each, £2 2-s.; . partial dentures, 7s. 6d. first tooth, and 2s. 6d. each additional tooth; maximum charge in any case, £5 ss. The dentist is asked to finish, if possible, all necessary treatment before the recruit is required for camp, so that his military duties shall not' be interfered with, as the time allowed for training in camp is all t-oo short. If impossible to finish treatment he will mark off oil the chart all work done, and post it to the Group Commander, in order to . qualify the recruit for proceeding to •camp; but in all cases charts must be filled in and forwarded to the Group Commander. The remaining treatment will bo finished in camp. Should 1 it be found undesirable to forward tho chart "per tho recruit," it is suggested that same be sent by post to the d'entist, and a stamped and addressed envelope enclosed for its return to the Group Office. In carrying out treatment it should be pointed out to dentists that they are not catering for a standing army, but for an expeditionary force, and treatment should be modified to that extent. A healthy mouth, with a fair amount of masticatory power, is what should be aimed at; septic teeth, except where their retention ..would obviate a denture, should' he Extracted. Partial plates, filling up small spaces, should be avoided as far as possible, as for example: if the recruit has good masticatory, power on one side it would be deemed sufficient. The- loss of one or two incisor teeth would not be considered a serious deficiency. The recruit will be provided with a certificate of temporary dental unfitness, a supply of which has already been forwarded to group offices, without which no recruit will be treated. The certificate is to be retained by the dentist ; it constitutes, his authorisation for treatment, and must, consequently, be attached to the voucher claiming payment from the Defence Department.. Each recruit will take with him _ a card (procurable at group offices), which tho dentist is asked to sign and post; it will not require to be stamped] it is merely a notification to the military authorities that treatment is being undertaken. ' The dental examination and history 1 sheet will also be taken by the recruit 1 or-posted to the dentist (with -an ad- , dressed and stamped envelope for return of same), the mouth being already dentally charted by the recruiting den- . tal officer. The dentist will fill in (in ' tho space over each tooth noted on the 1 sheet), the nature of. the operation I done, such as: E, extraction; F, fill- I ing; D, denture. The back of the his- 1 tory sheet is reserved for operations ' done in camp. At the foot of the history sheet will be found two alternative certificates; one of those must be sign- 1 ed by the dentist-, to enable the recruit i to bo enrolled for proceeding to camp, f The sheets aro arranged for duplicating s with carbon paper. The thin sheet is to be retained at the group office, and the stout sheet forwarded to the dentist, who will treat the recruit. The { sheets of those men whose dental treat- - ment has not been completed should be kept separate from those men who are dentally "fit," in order that on arrival i in camp they may be readily accessible / to the senior dental officer there, whose J duty it is to .see that treatment is completed as soon as possible. Up to the present the following dental recruiting officers have been ap-. pointed;— Mr. R, F. Johnston, Wanga- , nui; Mr. R. A. Grummit, Wanganui; I Mr. H. M. Curtis, Waverley; Mr. N. ■{ Campbell, Masterton; Dr. Sutton, Na- .' pier; Mr. G. H. Lockett, Gisborne; Mr. R-. G. Crawford, Gisborne; Mr. A. Hoby, AVellington: Mr. F Didsbury, AVellington; Mr. G. Bender, AVelling- . ton; Mr. C. V. N. Broad, Feilding; Mr. L. M. Horrocks, Foilding; Mr. S. A. Pa-rkes, Feilding; Mr. G. Stockwell, Feilding; Mr. J. O'Keefe, Taihape; Mr AA r . R. Johns, AVaitara; Mr. C. R. O'Carroll, Inglewood; Mr. J. Gray, Hawora; Mr. A. G. Barley, Hawera ; Mr. J. S. Lyons, Stratford; Sir C. Burdett, Eltham; Mr. E. C. Gilbert, Patea; Mr. C. Gray, New Plymouth; Mr. J. J, Faulkner, Hastings.