DENTAL CARIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 September 1940, Page 7

DENTAL CARIES

PREVALENCE IN NEW ZEALAND. COMMENT IN AMERICAN i JOURNAL. “New Zealand has the reputation of being a country that produces a healthy and virile people. Recent inquiries have tended to throw some doubt on this generalisation,” states a writer in the American Medical Association Journal. “The ‘protective foods’ are still fairly expensive and as a consequence New Zealanders tend to consume meat as their main first class protein and to bulk their diet with white bread, cakes, cane sugar and tea. “The available evidence suggests that about 97 per cent of the school children show signs of dental caries and that more than 50 per cent of adults have false teeth. It is also reported that one in every 20 persons in the country is in the hospital every year[ chiefly for such complaints as appendicitis, tonsils and goitre. The adult population also suffers to no inconsiderable degree from digestive complaints, rheumatism and neuritis. “It is interesting to note at what age the breakdown in health of the children begins to occur. Up to the age of 8 or 10 months, most of the children seem to be in good condition. After that age it is customary to cut down the amount of milk, cod liver oil, and orange juice with the result that the calories are obtained mainly from refined starches and the resistance of the child tends to decrease. By the time the children are going to school dental decay has become common. But for the past two years an additional half pint of milk has been supplied daily in the schools, and this is having a beneficial effect. “Another factor which has an influence on the nutrition of New Zealand is the quantity of cakes and pastry that are consumed.” In view of the state of affairs which exists in the Masterton district a meeting of all interested in the reorganisation of the Masterton Dental Clinic committee will be held in Masterton on October 14. Mr J. W. T. Jones, secretary of the Masterton Headteachers’ Association is convenor.