Tooth and Veil: The life and times of the New Zealand dental nurse

In 1921, when the School Dental Service was established, New Zealand embarked on a unique social experiment: improving the terrible state of the nation’s teeth. Set up by veterans of the First World War, the service — focused on ‘battling Bertie Germ’ — was run like a military operation and the all-female dental nurses were treated like foot-soldiers: underpaid, overworked and poorly resourced. Eventually they rebelled. In this lively history, Noel O’Hare details the nurses’ experiences on ...