ARMY DENTISTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1917, Page 6

ARMY DENTISTS.

RECRUITS AND THEIR TEETH.

75 PER CENT. REQUIRE TREATMENT

Some idea of the value of the dental services to the Australian Imperial Force fsays a Melbourne paper) may be gained I from the official statement that over I '£lo,ooo has been spent in equipment in ■ the last twelve months. Major T. F. W. j Hall, staff officer, has given some inter- ! esting particulars of the work of the dental officers. Working full or part time 1 in Australia there are in the dentai : services four majors, 54 captains, 116' lieutenants, seven warrant officers, 170 staff-sergeants, eight corporal clerke, an(l 1 17'0 orderlies, or a total of 520 officers) and others working in about 20 small dental hospitals in tho training camps ; and in private surgeries. | Employed overseas are two majors, 20 i captains, -70 lieutenants, 180 staff-Ser- ' geants, and 90 orderlies, or a total of 382 of All ranks. Many deiital officers beginning »as lieutenants have, sifter ! twelve months' effective service, 'been i promoted the rank of captain. Major Hall''computes that on a conservative estimate 75 per. cent, of the men who enlist require dental treatment. It Is seldom'that a recruit has a perfect! set of teeth, while tho great majority have tQsth;bpiissing, or are affected .by some wastijijj.disease like pyorrhea. For i tho purpose , of the dental officers, reare divided into three classes, the first requiring no treatment, the second modified treatment, and the' third extensive treatment. In this third class are' men who, while dentally unfit foi* war Beryice, are Capable of ibeing made fit. Earlier in the war period, men without a certain oumfyer of teeth, were not accepted for service, but nowadays complete sets of false teeth aro often supplied to the. troops. The number of those men, who in the tivrelve months ended June 30 were made dentally fit Svho would otherwise have been dentally unfit for service is 22,59*2. Other parti-culars-supplied by Major Hall show that in the period mentioned there were 55,497 fillings, 127,280 extractions, 26J4175 plates supplied, 3308 plates repaired, 39,485 treatments including those for I pyorrhea, while no fewer than 183,987 arI tiflcial teeth were used.

The growth of the army dental services in Australia has assisted to foster several industries within the Commonwealth. Among these industries aro the manufacture of dental chairs, lathes, vulcanisers, amalgam, and other articles.