STATE DENTISTRY

Southland Times, Issue 18833, 28 May 1920, Page 7

STATE DENTISTRY

APPEAL Idll ACTIVE PROPAGANDA. Slate dentistry was the subject of a siu-rch delivered by Mr llichtnonil Dunn, oi Wanganui. b" ! 'oi .• the Dentists' Conference la.--: week. That State dentistry was an accomplished feel was a source of great satis[;n non to the profe-sion. lie said, because *1 11 : iii long since bwn apparent that only -a>i;:e v.as: orgninsat ion. 'ill'll as could be cairied on by the .'Mate alone, was the only Hung that could in any way copy with an evil that threatened to destroy the race d it was not dealt with in an efficient manner, Mr Dunn proceeded to say that the terrible state of the dental organs of the whole people had been for many years a hideous nightmare to ail denti-ts. hut now that the attention of the Slate hud been directed to the matter there was a reasonable certainty of the evil being largely mitigated for the present generation. The present task was, however, a small (mo compared with the problem of preventing other generations from suffering the dental disabilities of the present one. In the first place, tliev had pi overcome a very strong Unis m favour of pathological me'hods as against physiological methods, in this connection he’pointed tn the fact that the public eschewed their natural teeth in favour of artificial sets, the former being regarded as inconvenient and pain giving. "Have we ever tried," he added, "to estimate the very largo proportion of the population that haven’t a natural tooth ill their heads'.' SivntM we estimate it at much le--- than a quarter of a million'.' He emphasised a pica for very thorough and active propaganda I" enlighten the public on the matter. it was the women to whom we must look, and the women of the next generation must fir-t h-> properly educated in these matters if the propaganda is to have even a measure of success.

In corcluding. Mr Mumi paid a tribute - n |),- whom he de.-i-pbed as "the pul stive f■ 1 1hr of State dentistry in New Zealand." The conference instructed the incoming executive to set tip a select committee to ;,ivvstigme and report on the causes and prevention of dental di-eas", with a view- to making some ex cathedra ;m----noitncem Tit to the public on the whole matter.