View report page

fees, 57 of the former and 4 of the latter being attended to.
81 maternity and tuberculosis cases, unable to pay the full fee, were
assessed. The two evening sessions increase in popularity, 939 visits
being made.
Many large industrial concerns have recognised the value of
dental treatment by appointing their own dentists ; but there
are smaller businesses unable to do this. To them this centre may be
of great service. An experiment is being tried with one firm and the
only difficulty is the payment of the fees. A group to contribute to
the Hospital Saving Association is formed by the workers, the grants
from which and from the Approved Societies are overcoming this
obstacle. Should this experiment prove successful the interest of
other firms may be aroused and they may see fit to unite to make
their own arrangements.
A Royal Commission is considering the National Health Insurance
Act, and dentistry has taken an important place in its deliberations.
The evidence placed before the Commission indicates that a great
amount of illness is due to oral sepsis, and that dental treatment
needs to be a statutory benefit, and not an additional benefit as
is the case now. It has proved so popular that Approved Societies
which made grants of 50 per cent, have had to reduce them to
25 per cent. That the greater part of the insured population does
not take advantage of this benefit is not due to the fear of the dentist,
which is being abolished by modern methods, but to the inability
of the majority to afford its share of the fee. Two factors stand out as
of the utmost importance to the dental well-being of the public.
One is the urgency of propaganda ; and the other is the necessity
for the individual to have easy access to skilled dental attention
throughout the first thirty or forty years of life. Little is being
done for the toddler, school clinics are established by nearly all
Education Authorities, and the young adolescent is not eligible for
dental benefit until a period of five contributory years has elapsed.
Therefore, concentration on treatment for toddlers and education
of parents will lessen the work necessary in the school clinics ; and
the extension of dental benefit with a minimum contributory period