The New Zealand dental nurse program.
The New Zealand Dental Nurse Program has received increased interest by many public health officials recently. The program was initiated over 50 years ago to provide routine dental care to the country's children from 2 1/2-13 years of age. Participation by parents is completely voluntary, but the fact that more than 60% of the preschool children and 95% of the school children are registered shows its wide acceptance. Although the dental nurse provides dental care with very little direct supervision, statistics show that the program is meeting most of the dental needs of the children. In 1925 there were 78.6 teeth requiring extraction for every 100 teeth that were restored. In 1974 this figure was reduced to 2.5 extractions per 100 restorations.
D002648:Child; D003726:Dental Assistants; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009313:National Health Programs; D009520:New Zealand; D009729:Nursing; D012571:School Dentistry