A visit to the "murder house"

A tap on the door usually heralded a visit to the "murder house".

A small child, pale faced and glassy eyed, cotton gauze bumble bee clutched in their hands would mumble something incomprehensive and pass a note to the teacher.

The whole class would hold their breath, then let out a sweet sigh of relief as the kid in the next desk reluctantly left his chair and began the trek over to the dental clinic.

You could smell the dental clinic before you got there, a mixture of meths and cleaning fluid that got stronger as you followed the little concrete path up to the door.

If you were unlucky, a child was still seated in the wooden chair under the gaze of the dental nurse. This meant a wait on a bench seat, staring at the walls laden with posters of smiling animals exhorting you to eat your greens, trying not to listen to the sounds next door.

The dental nurse would do her best to make the visit a pain free one. But I always staggered from the clinic with a sigh of relief, another visit over for a year.

Despite improving the nation's health dental nurses (now called dental therapists) have had a bad rap, ever since the school dental service was introduced 80 years ago.

A toothy problem

The appalling state of soldier's teeth during WWI had woken the Government up to an impending health disaster.

A survey showed that up to 90 per cent of New Zealand's children required dental care. Many children had to have their teeth removed and wear false teeth until their adult teeth came through.

"It is to the children of the present day and of the future generation that we look to repair the wastage of this terrible war. And it behoves us to see that they're given a fair chance to develop clean and wholesome bodies without which any nation must go to the wall."

NZ Dental Association President N Mitchell.

A world first

The solution, to introduce trained women into primary schools to do basic dental treatment and educate children and parents on healthy living and nutrition, was a world first.

The school dental service began in 1921 – two years later the first dental nurses, dressed in white smocks and veils, marched into schools in Hawke's Bay. By the end of the year 25 clinics were in schools around the country, including Taranaki. Before long dental nurses had become a permanent feature of New Zealand school life.

Dental nurses were more popular than dentists – women were seen as "temperamentally and psychologically" more suited to deal with children – and the nation's imagination had already been captured by the introduction of the Plunket Nurse. 

Along with the introduction of fluoride, dental nurses are credited with saving generations of New Zealanders' teeth.