DENTAL SCHOOL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26640, 10 December 1947, Page 4

DENTAL SCHOOL

RESEARCH WORK GRANT OF £IO,OOO SIR THOMAS HUNTER’S GIFT To encourage research into dental diseases Sir Thomas Hunter, of Wellington, told the Council of the University of Otago yesterday that he had made a gift of £IO,OOO to the National Dental School. Sir Thomas, who was present at the monthly meeting of the council, was warmly thanked for his gift and for the great interest he continued to take in the dental profession.

Stating that his gift was intended “ for the furtherance and encouraging of research at the Dental School,” Sir Thomas suggested that the Dean of the Dental School, Dr J. P. Walsh, should act in an advisory capacity to assist the council of the University of Otago in deciding the best way to use the gift. He suggested that the capital sum should remain intact for five years, the income from the investment of the gift being used in the meantime. At the end of five years, consideration should be given by the council, in consultation with the Dean of the Dental School as to whether the capital was to be used or whether the income only should continue to be used. Step-Child of the Government

The Chancellor, the Very Rev. D. C. Herron, said that it was not the first occasion on which Sir Thomas had shown a deep and practical interest in the Dental School. This crowning achievement in presenting the school with £IO,OOO would mark the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the Dental School. “The Dental School has been rather the step-child of the Government and the community,” Mr Herron said, “and not so much interest has been shown in dental research as in medical research. People are known to have died of medical diseases and so there is an urge to find a way of preventing that disease from causing death and

thus a means of prolonging life. There is no thought of people dying of toothache. Yet dental caries and dental diseases are serious,” Mr Herron said, “and Sir Thomas, by his munificent gift, was drawing attention to the vital need for dental research.” Forerunner of Other Diseases “I have felt for a very long time that it is very necessary that something should be done in the way of dental research,” Sir Thomas said. “ In the early days not only the public but the medical profession failed to realise that dental disease was sericus. I am satisfied that dental disease is the forerunner of most others,’’ he said. “The diet of New Zealanders is the cause of most of our dental disease, but it is difficult to get the people out of their evil ways and to fight against their habits and againstt vested interests who manufacture soft foods. “ There is a wide field for dental research,” Sir Thomas . stated. “Now that the Dental School is being reorganised and has a dean so keen on the subject of research, I feel sure some results will be achieved.” *

Dr Walsh, who described Sir Thomas as the leader of the dental profession in New Zealand for the past 40 years, said that dentistry owed more to him than to any other man in the country. His generous gift was an example to others. It was rather strange, he said, that the Dental School was the most poorly-endowed school in the. Dominion. The profession itself now recognised the need for research, and he expressed the hope that the public would come to realise its importance. If dental diseases were eliminated, he; added, it would be a big step forward in eliminating other diseases of the body.

A Distinguished Career Sir Thomas Hunter was born in Dunedin in 1863 and began his career in dentistry in this city. After studying abroad he practised in Dunedin and took a prominent part in the institution of the dental faculty at the University of Otago in 1907. He gave valuable assistance in raising funds for the erection in 1903 of the Dental School, which was then housed in the building that now accommodates the offices of the University. During the 1914-18 war Sir Thomas was appointed Director of Dental Services to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and was awarded the C.B.E. On his return from overseas he worked strenuously for the establishment of a school dental service and it was he who introduced the scheme for training dental nurses. When the Division of Dental Hygiene was formed in the Health Department. Sir Thomas was appointed its first director. He retired from the position in 1930. and in June, 1947, was knighted. This is not the first gift he has made, for it follows a grant of £IOOO towards founding the Dental School in Dunedin and a further gift of £IOOO in September last year for the furtherance of dental research.