Toothbrush Drill - Maori Dental Care - circa 1940s

 Children participating in Toothbrush Drill, Te Kaha Maori School, Opotiki, circa 1944. Photo: Pascoe

The school that brushes its teeth together, reduces cavities together... Toothbrush drill seems to have been a device for promoting better dental care amongst school children in the 1940s.

Getting the equipment ready for the Toothbrush drill at Te Kaha Maori School, Opotiki, circa 1944. Photo: Pascoe

Maori Dental Health Poster #2 - New Zealand Department of Health - circa 1950s

Maori Dental Hygiene poster, NZ Department of Health, circa 1950s

Okay, everyone, circular motions, front and back, and all the way to the baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack....

Spit & rinse, carry on.

Maori Dental Health Poster - New Zealand Department of Health - circa 1950s

Dental Care Poster, NZ Department of Health, circa 1950s

Health care posters pitched to the Maori community in the 1950s to promote good dental hygiene. Not such a good idea though to share your food with a horse, you don't know what kind of microbial life may be in the horse's mouth... and it might just decided to lean over a bit further and sample a toe! Oh, just realized that would be a case of foot in mouth disease - someone better call Biosecurity and a podiatrist.

London Dental Institute - Manners Street - Perretts Corner 1908

The London Dental Institute occupied the first floor above Perrett's chemist at the corner of Manners and Willis streets in the early 1900s.

Evening Post, 25 August 1908, Papers Past, Alexander Turnbull Library

Kitty-corner, as the Americans say, or diagonally across the intersection from Perretts, the American Dental Institute operated commercial premises.

No account seems to survive of how the competition played out between these two brands - one appealing to the New Zealander colonists sentimental attachment to "Home" and loyalty to the British Empire; the other, presumably, to the latest in artificial dental aids and care from a rising industrial power.