DENTAL ASSOCIATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2772, 30 March 1910, Page 5

DENTAL ASSOCIATION.

ANNUAL .MEETING

[Pkr Press Association.! DUNEDIN, March 29. The sixth annual meeting of the New Zealand Dental Association will be opened here to-morrow. The delegates were accorded a civic reception in the Town Hall to-night, about 50 persons being present.. After the delegates had been welcomed by the Mayor, the President of the Association (Mr T. A. Hunter) delivered the presidential address, the subject being the duty of the state and the public towards the prevention of dental disease. In the course of his remarks he said that at least four-fifths of the people in the Dominion were suffering in a greater or less degree from dental disease, the prevalence of .which constituted one of the most, if not the most, insidious forms of disease that sapped vitality. The speaker went on to refer to the assistance that could be rendered by the medical profession in connection with dental disease, and also advocated that the authorities should have an organised examination and efficient treatment of the mouths of children in public schools. By this*intervention the health of the people would be enhanced, happiness increased, calls on charitable institutions lessened, and the taxpayer relieved of a yearly increasing burden. In conclusion Mr Hunter paid a compliment to the members of the dental profession for their efforts to bring about an improvement in the condition of affairs. D r Barnett, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr Hunter, congratulated the Dental Association on the position it had reached in New Zealand. The medical profession, he said, appreciated the way in which the dentists were carrying out an important work for the good of humanity.