SHORTAGE OF DENTISTS

Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1923, Page 2

SHORTAGE OF DENTISTS

LONDON. October 10. T bis week in London there is being liehl under the Incorporated Denial Society ill 1 nternatii.na! Denial K.xhibibition. Sir Kingsley W‘>oil, ALP., at the opening ceremony, said I hat in England and Wales there were .‘(,000.000 1 childien who needed dental treatment, AOO.OOO of them urgently. We needed fur more dentists in the country if we wen- to ensure adequate service. lufortunately. the number of dentists to the population had heen decreasing, and from 100 we now only had 117 dentists to every 1.000,000 of the population. One of the welcome sig»,s of the times was the dental treatment piovided as additional benefit by the approved societies of the country. Societes with a total membership of some 7,000.000 wen 1 now providing dental treatment at a total cost of about £150.009 per annum. It was hoped that when the second valuation of the societies took place still larger sums would be available. Here, at tliis exhibition, may lie contrasted. if not (he methods of teeth extrarfion and substitution of the present and the distant past, at least the relative quality of the substituted teeth. Jt is licit shown wlmt the ancient Egyptians could do in this matter—-even they practised dentistry—but there is a ease of teeth and their fittings as made a few centuries ago specially meriting attention. Even the toothache might be thought to have been hardly less endurable than some of these rough substitutes. In some instances the teeth and the block are caned out of solid ivory; in others the teeth are fixed oil spikes and riveted; in most eases 1 liev must have been a constant toiture to the wearer. l)y the side of these lire cases tilled with countless teeth of every category, made after the modern fashion, and so perfect in shape and lnilliance as to accuse Nature herself of imperfection. It is evident that the science of dentistiv is now more than ever approaching the era of absolute painlessness. Tin. use of the X-rays in diagnosing tooth troubles is a great advance in ibis direction. There is now no need for probings and landings in search of hidden troubles. The patient’s month is X-rayed, and the developed photograph discloses the sent of the trouble. Its removal under local anaesthetics is then a matter of minutes.