In 1913, the then President of the New Zealand Dental Association, Dr Norman K Cox proposed a system of school clinics operated by the state and staffed by 'oral hygienists' to address the dental needs of children between the ages of 6 and 14 years.
School dental nurses were to provide diagnostic and restorative services to children '..in a rigidly structured set of methods and procedures which spare her the anxiety of making choices' [REF].