DENTAL CLINIC SERVICE

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 169, 14 April 1939, Page 3

DENTAL CLINIC SERVICE

REMARKABLE GROWTH THE POSITION REVIEWED OPOTIKI EXPANSION On taking office, one of the first efforts of the present Government was to improve and extend the School Dental Service. The immediate aim of this service is to provide dental treatment toi all primary school children up to and including Standard 4. This it) is proposed to achieve by 1941. After that, the intention is to develop the service until it affords systematic dental treatment, to all primary school children and also the children of post-primary schools. During the years immediately preceding 1936, the numbers of, dental nurses trained were barely sufficient toi maintain the service, and very little extension could be undertaken. Thirty-nine were admitted to training in 18'30; 21 'in 1931; none in 1932; 29 in 1933, 25 in 1934, and 30 in 1935. lu 1936, the first year of the present Government’s administration, 51 students were admitted to training. an increase ol : 21 over the 30 admitted in the previous year. hr 1937 the number admitted was increased further to 70: that is, 40 more than the 1935 figure. The number admitted was still further increased to 75 in 1938, and the same number are being appointed' in 1939.

In 1935 there were 53 dental nurses in training—at present there are 138. The number of dental nurses in the field at. the present time is 216 as against 160 in 1935, an increase of 56. Of the T3S at present in training, 32 are to be transferred to dlental clinics throughout the Dominion next month, which should raise the total number in the field to 248.

These nurses carry on their work in school dental clinics numbering, throughout the Dominion 285. This number is 33 more than wore in operation in, 1935, ‘when the number was 252. . The establishment of school dental clinics at a further 47 centres has been approved, which will raise the current number from *285 to 332. In addition to these centres, the staff at several existing clinics lias been reinforced to cope with the increased number of patients. The number of children under treatment in 1935 was 84,738. In December, 1935. the number was 94,261 —an increase of nearly 10,000. It is the policy to include under school age children for treatment wherever the staff is in a. position to do so. ’ It is hoped that, with the increasing number of dental nurses, it will be possible to include these children at every treatment centre within the near future.

The training accommodation available in the past was quite insufficient for even enough dental nurses to attenjl to the teeth of the children up to Standard 4.. of tho age of 12, far less to give attention to the children in jtlie upper standards and m the post-primary schools, which is the objective of the ■Government. It ‘became) early apparent that a incidental clinic was essential;-' and tlirk is in the process of being’"built on the old! To Aro School site' in 'A illis Street-. Wellington. The founda tLoji stone of this ..training school, which will accommodate 100 student nurses, was laid by the RtHon. the Prime Alinister on 30th. April, 1938, and the building will be ready for occupation this year. B;i (> the meantime, the former Prime Minister’s residence in Tjnakori Road has been pressed intoi service. When the new dental clinic for the training of the nurses becomes available, pare of the temporary clinic accommodation can be dispensed with and the remainder can be utilised; until the full programme of expansion is com pleted. At Opotiki the school dental service was established in April 1932 under tho charge of Nurse L. E. A. Ferguson, who was succeeded by Nurse M l . Whiteside, followed by Nurse B, J. Ross, who was recently followed by the present nurse, Aliss Aiountjoy. The service lias been steadily expanded until to-day there are 11 schools in the dental group, from which over 400 patients are drawn.

The co-operation of parents is sought in assisting the dental clinic committee with its financial obligations andl ensuring that the simple advice and instruction given by the' dental nurse is carried out.