Ladies from the murder house: the school dental service and child public health in New Zealand, 1920s-1950s

Abstract

The history of school dental treatment in New Zealand provides a window into the relationship between childhood, citizenship, public health initiatives and medicine in early twentieth century New Zealand. A major health transition occurred at this time as New Zealand embraced the international trend for modernisation and efficiency in healthcare. This thesis will suggest that the dental service formed one of the most direct connections between the state and the New Zealand family in the interwar years. The Division of Dental Hygiene considered the dental nurse one of the key agents to link school and home. This connection provided the nurses with ample opportunity to inculcate certain notions of domesticity and influence the attitude of members of the public towards the importance of dental health. I will argue in this thesis that the increased interest in dental treatment and health formed part of a modernisation and normalisation process that focused predominantly on children.