160) 
MAJORITY REPORT. 
A REGIONAL DENTAL STAFF. 
362. But we should be sorry to leave this question without 
making any practical proposals at all. And we do make one 
now which we consider will have beneficial effects on the some- 
what varied collection of additional benefit schemes for dental 
treatment. We refer to the institution of a Regional Dental 
Staff. No insurance dental service can, we are told, be satis- 
factory without effective supervision, especially over the quality 
of materials and standard of workmanship used in dentures. (See 
Brock, Q. 23,952.) In the experience of the Ministry of Pensions 
we understand that in one pension area 35 per cent. of the cases 
examined were stated to be unsatisfactory. This did not mean 
that 35 per cent. of all the work done was unsatisfactory, since 
the cases examined included all those in which any complaint had 
been made by the patient. 
363. A Regional Dental staff would be responsible for the 
examination of all estimates, and would actually see a proportion 
of the cases after treatment was complete. The proportion of 
cases seen need not, apart from complaint cases, be large. The 
value of such a system of inspection is to a great extent psycho- 
logical, and the effect is due to the knowledge that any particular 
case may come under scrutiny. 
364. It is clear to us that if dental benefit is eventually made 
universal, a system of regional officers would be essential for its 
successful operation. If, realising the larger alternative, dental 
treatment were to become one element in a general health service 
for the whole population, some such arrangements would be 
equally necessary. But even at the present stage of additional 
benefits there would be a real value in establishing a partial 
system of control which could naturally develop into the fuller 
scheme. In fact, just because the present system is so varied in 
its methods and provision, it may be held that some such control 
is specially needed. 
365. As to cost, we have received from the Ministry of Health 
an estimate for a Regional Dental Service, on the assumption 
of dental benefit being universally available on uniform terms. 
Twenty-one Regional Dental Officers are suggested, each with a 
clerk, and all under the control of a chief inspector at head- 
quarters. With due allowance for travelling expenses, office 
accommodation, &c., the cost is estimated at £31,000 a year. 
For the service under present conditions the cost would be 
substantially less. We have not received an estimate for such a 
limited provision, but even if it approached the above-mentioned 
figure we would recommend the expenditure as a very desirable 
means of improving the present service. As the activities of the 
Regional Dental Service would in very considerable measure tend 
to protect the expenditure of the Approved Societies on additional