a) 
MAJORITY REPORT. 
to health of timely, continued and effective dental treatment, 
the need for making the benefit generally available on uniform 
lines, and the adequacy of the number of qualified dentists to 
deal with the whole insured population. Considerable diverg- 
ence of view exists regarding the possible methods of organising 
the service and also regarding the scope of the benefit in the 
immediate future, when heavy arrears of work would have to 
be overtaken and while financial conditions remain adverse. 
But the evidence as a whole leaves no doubt in our minds that 
any system of public medical services cannot be regarded as 
complete until it includes the provision of adequate dental treat- 
ment in a generally available form. 
85. The British Medical Association admit that dental treat- 
ment should be an exception to the general principle urged by 
them, that any form of specialist treatment should be available 
only on the recommendation of the general practitioner (App. 
XLVII, 22-23; Q. 15,003-15,005, 15,109-15,111). We think 
this is sound in view of the more stringest qualifications now 
required for the dental profession and the character of dental 
trouble itself. At the same time, it in no way debars the general 
practitioner from considering dental defects in their relation to 
the general health of his patients. 
86. The wider and more uniform provision of this benefit has, 
as we have said, been pressed upon us from many quarters. We 
have accordingly felt obliged to examine very closely its claims to 
be made a statutory benefit available to all insured persons in the 
same way that medical benefit is. The discussion of this question 
will be found in Chapter XII where it takes its appropriate place 
in the examination of the order of priority of certain proposals in 
themselves desirable in greater or less degree. 
87. In closing this review of the evidence on the dental service 
we may refer to an important change made in the arrangements 
in July, 1925. Sir Walter Kinnear in reply to Q. 23,915 said : 
** Under the additional benefit schemes for dentistry at the present 
moment the insured person has a right to go to any dentist he 
chooses who is willing to do the service on the scale of fees agreed 
with the Societies generally. We do not allow Societies to select 
particular dentists. There is free choice of dentist. That is a 
development which has taken place during this year of course.’’ 
He added (Q. 23,916) ‘‘ I think the scheme is very much better 
than the one that was in vogue at the early part of this year.’’ 
OPHTHALMIC BENEFIT 
88. The official evidence indicates that next to dental treatment 
ophthalmic benefit is most in demand. (Ministry of Health 
App. I,B, 212.) For the year 1924 in England alone nearly 
£82,000 was available for it and of this sum about 37 per cent. or