STATE DENTISTRY.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3635, 23 November 1920, Page 4

STATE DENTISTRY.

SCHOOL CHILDREN'S TEETH. WELLINGTON, Nov. 22. j j The Minister of Education and Health (the Hon. C. J. Parr), replying j to* the remarks' of Professor Piekerill J concerning the poposed system of school ' dentistry, said: Professor Piekerill ? s statement is as misleading as it is inaccurate. Within the past couple of •months we have established Clinics not j only in the four main centres, but in several of the boroughs as well. These j institutions are already doing excel- '< lent work, and will be extended to other centres as soon as competent dentists and suitable premises can be secured. , ' 'lt has been suggested by the op- j ponents of the scheme,'' said Mr. Parr, ' ' 'that the Government is proposing to J employ women for the treatment of j mild cases and to .neglect all serious i dental disease in the schools. I must.! state emphatically that this is not the i case. I have already made it clear that the State programme consists of j two parts—first,' the employment of of registered dentists, and, secondly, the employment of specially trained dental nurses. Preventive, dentistry is j the ideal. We must attend to the I simple cases lest they become serious. The Department has already been able ' u» e.s.ai;jiisn facilities for treatment in centres in which live half the population of the -Dominion. Dr. Piekerill objects to the employment of women dental nurses. He wishes us to wait until we. obtain, as he terms it, a sum-, .eieney of highly paid, properly fled dentists.- The answer to this"isobvious. Dr. Piekerill had ample opportunity to. place these same views before an authoritative"conference.representing . the dentists of New-Zea-land some three months ago. Tie conference by a nearly three to one turned him down. .Moreover,: Mr. Nelson Mitchell (president of the New' Zealand Dental Association), at Auckland on Friday last, explained to the press that the Dental Association was satisfied that our new scheme offers the only reasonable hope of success. Dr. .Piekerill makes suggestions for dental clinics and ambulances, but no one knows better" than the critic bimself that these, things, a;re in our programme, and will be* furnished to the public. Our scheme," said the Minister, "will go forward, and notwithstanding a little ..technical opposition, ill be, I feel sure, a great) sue- ( cess." *"-, i