DENTAL EXAMINATIONS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 114, 31 January 1918, Page 7

DENTAL EXAMINATIONS

RECENT CHANGES THE MINISTER'S RECOMMENDATIONS At its last meeting the University i Senate amended the statutes for the ex- > amination which a dentist must pass 1 before he can be licensed for tho prac- . tiso of his profession. Previously the ; requirements were that a man wishing ! to enter tho profession had to take a ' four years' course at tho Dental School ] at the University of Otago, to which : is attached tho onlv Medical School in tho-country: For two years the Minis- ; ter of Public Health (the Hon. G. W. ! Russell) has had this matter under ; consideration, and in consequence of rci presentations made to him from Auckland and other places he addressed a • letter to the Senate, of which the deci- ■ sion of the Senate to amend the statutes is probably the outcome., The Minister pointed out in his letter • that no man under the Dentists Act ' of 1908 could be registered unless ho • held a degree in dentistry granted l>v the .University of New Zealand. He had come reluctantly to the conclusion that under present conditions the ncci'Rsitics of the population in the matter of dentistry were not being met. The following were the registrations 1 in-the last ten years:— 1907....... • .54 IQOR 41 •ISO!) 45 1310 32 . inn. 20' 1912 P- . 1913 3 . 1914 , ' 1 '.' 1915........ 2 . 1916 • : 3 - ' .In the last five of the years of this period the new statutes had been in •force.. The Minister BUgeested to the Senate that the requirements of the examination should not. comnel attendance at ' the.' Otago Medical School for foil? years', but that students be allowed to take part of the course either at technical schools in.the other large-centres or. at the other .. Uriiyersity Collego's, gaihing'idxperience of tho surgical part ■of their .work at the dental clinics at ' tho. hospitals. If it was desired that -the "nVrce should'be retained, no. suggested.""that n less qualification in the shape of a diploma should be accented as entitling a.clentist to practise. .This, he submitted, .would not perhaps be equal to a degree, but it would he evidence, that the applicant for registra-tion-had reached efficiency in the practical work of dentistry.