HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 October 1922, Page 4

HEALTH OF CHILDREN.

FIRST PLANK OF EDUCATION. MENACE OF BAD TEETH. WORK FOR DENTAL NURSES. By Telegraph.—Press Association. / Auckland, Last Night. Insistence that the health of thd pupil should be treated as the first plank in the educational platform wa« the main note struck by the Hon. C. ,1. Parr at the opening of additions at the Avondale South school. He said that to spend money in cramming children with knowledge and to neglect their bodies was largely waste and the Government had now recognised that the health of the pupils should be the first consideration in education. Next year another important department of‘the school health service would be inaugurated—the dental service. The Government had undertaken the training of 33 dental nurses at Wellington. A two years’ intensive course had been provided and the nurses- would deal with the teeth of school children. Onlj two years ago there was great opposi' tion to the employment of women for this work, but the New Zealand Dental* Association, to its credit, had reoognis-* cd the danger lurking in the fact that 80 per cent, of school children hod bad teeth, for which no treatment was provided. It had given the scheme its unselfish support, and had made its realisation possible. Doctors and others who liad seen the work of the dental nurses had expressed satisfaction with their attainments. The nurses would be sent out next year to the different cities, towns and country districts. Expenditure in this direction was justified, because the worker with a large family could not meet a dentist’s bill for his children.