TOOTH CONSCIOUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 August 1939, Page 5

TOOTH CONSCIOUS

ATTITUDE OF AMERICAN PEOPLE NEW ZEALAND’S UNENVIABLE RECORD. CHICAGO SCHOOL'S GREAT WORK. The attitude of the people of the United States towards dentistry, and towards health matters generally, is entirely different from that assumed by the people of New Zealand. The former are acutely “tooth conscious,” while the inhabitants of this Dominion give far less attention than they should to this important branch of health culture. American people consult their dentists at least once every three months; New Zealanders only when things are going wrong. As a consequence, this Dominion has the unenviable distinction of holding the world’s record ih the matter of dental diseases. This is the firm conviction of Mr A. Thomas Lawson, a former Dunedin student, who has just returned home after spending a year at the Northwestern University Dental School in Chicago, as the result of having gained the scholarship offered annually by that university to students in various parts of the world. The excellent state of preservation noticeable in the teeth of the average American, Mr Lawson told a “Star” reporter the other day, was also due to their attention to diet. They keep strictly to three meals a day, and these meals include generous proportions of fruit, salads, and fruit juices. One could not but be uncomfortably impressed by the contrast in the appearance of the younger generation, dentally speaking, when one returned to New Zealand, said Mi- Lawson. Too many of the youth of the Dominion wore dentures, and dentures which were not well fitted.

Dentistry in America is highly specialised, Mr Lawson added. In the dental schools there a highly-qualified professor is at the head of each branch, and with him is a staff of expert assistants; whereas in New Zealand the branches are not divided, and one professor, or dean, is thought to be sufficient. At the North-western School, one of the best in the country, there are world-famous professors, some of them refugees from Europe. The students, at the time Mr Lawson was studying there, included three New Zealanders and six Australians.

A memorable occasion for Mr Lawson was the mid-winter meeting of the Chicago Dental Fraternity, at which about 5,000 dentists were present, Everything appears to be done in a big way in America, which is a big country, but there is no dotibt regarding the thoroughness with which these things are carried out. “Specialise! Specialise! Specialise-” is the slogan.