Ann Heath
Recently I encountered ,socially, Professor John Heath a paediatric oncologist working in Hobart. He told me his mother is a retired dentist. I told him my quest is to illuminate the dental community.
That led to us speaking to Ann Heath and this is her story.
Q: Can we ask you about your experience in dentistry? What year did you graduate?
Ann: 1954. I was 24 years old. I married just after graduating.
Ann: I went to Melbourne Uni. Dentistry, Medicine and Engineering all had to do first year in Mildura. Because of the war.
Q: What was your first job?
Ann: I worked for the Royal Melbourne Dental Hospital.
Q: Tell us about your first year of work.
Ann: I did lots of children.
Ann: I remember the dental hygiene was very poor. That was our job. We had to improve that.
Q: What did you do for these children?
Ann: I filled all their teeth. I took them out if I had to. But I tried not to.
Q: What do you remember about the fillings?
Ann: Amalgam.
Q: When doing a filling did you have anyone to help you.
Ann: I had Val Shelton. My dental nurse for 30 years.
John: Val Shelton was a good friend as well as a colleague.
Ann: Absolutely. She was very pleasant. We didn’t fight in 30 years.
Q: Do you remember the first time you heard the word fluoride?
Ann: I thought it was a very good thing. I thought it would improve the dental health of the population which was pretty poor. Fluoride was a great success.
Q: When Melbourne was fluoridated in 1977 did teeth change?
Ann: Yes the teeth improved. Absolutely. You could see it.
Q: Infections. Abscesses. Did you have access to antibiotics in the 50s.
Ann: No not really. We had to drain the abscess and take out the tooth.
Q: After the dental hospital I moved into children dentistry in Port Melbourne, South Melbourne, Oakleigh.
Ann: We’d get the kids from the kindergartens. A free service for the children. We took anybody. We also went to schools and did education.
Q: You raised six children. All are now successful at work and at home. How did your work as a dentist affect bringing up the family?
Ann: John you can answer that better than me.
John: I think you always choose to work part time.
John: Nowadays women get maternity leave. Did you just have a few months off and go back to work?
Ann: A few months off then back to work. We didn’t get paid of course.
Q: What age did you retire at?
Ann: 65.
Q: What part of your job did you most enjoy?
Ann: I enjoyed the whole lot of it. The experience of work and the people I worked with.
Q: Was there anything about work that frustrated you. You didn’t like?
Ann: No.
Q: Looking back at your job what are you most proud of?
Ann: The education we gave to the children and their parents.
Q: When you go to a dentist now is it different or much the same. Have things changed?
Ann: Much the same….except for the antibiotics. They helped a lot.
Q: If someone was interested in doing dentistry now what would you tell them?
Ann: I’d tell them to go for it. It’s a good life. You can adapt your life to fit in. Work part time. I’d tell them to go for it.
Q: And is it a good job for a person raising a family.
Ann: Yes I do. Don’t know what they think. You have to ask John about that.
John: We were very happy.
Q: Can I ask you an annoying question. What did you do with children who didn’t behave in the chair?
Ann: Well I talked to them and they all behaved.
Q: Can I ask another annoying question? The difference between a male and female dentists in those days. Was there much difference? Was there any sexism in training?
Ann: I don’t think so. I think the fellows in my year all treated me very well. No problems at all with that.
One aspect of our talk was Ann had a lot of trouble thinking of changes in dentistry since 1954.
Ann practiced dentistry in the 50’s. Her main interests were:
Healthy balance between work and home.
Goof relationships with her colleagues.
Good relationships with her patients.
Prevention. Ann knew that prevention was better than fillings which were better than extractions.
Ann used the best materials and techniques available at the time. Which was amalgam. Without amalgam there would be none of today’s materials.
Perhaps Ann is right. Perhaps her main concerns are still the big issues in dentistry.
That led to us speaking to Ann Heath and this is her story.
Q: Can we ask you about your experience in dentistry? What year did you graduate?
Ann: 1954. I was 24 years old. I married just after graduating.
Ann: I went to Melbourne Uni. Dentistry, Medicine and Engineering all had to do first year in Mildura. Because of the war.
Q: What was your first job?
Ann: I worked for the Royal Melbourne Dental Hospital.
Q: Tell us about your first year of work.
Ann: I did lots of children.
Ann: I remember the dental hygiene was very poor. That was our job. We had to improve that.
Q: What did you do for these children?
Ann: I filled all their teeth. I took them out if I had to. But I tried not to.
Q: What do you remember about the fillings?
Ann: Amalgam.
Q: When doing a filling did you have anyone to help you.
Ann: I had Val Shelton. My dental nurse for 30 years.
John: Val Shelton was a good friend as well as a colleague.
Ann: Absolutely. She was very pleasant. We didn’t fight in 30 years.
Q: Do you remember the first time you heard the word fluoride?
Ann: I thought it was a very good thing. I thought it would improve the dental health of the population which was pretty poor. Fluoride was a great success.
Q: When Melbourne was fluoridated in 1977 did teeth change?
Ann: Yes the teeth improved. Absolutely. You could see it.
Q: Infections. Abscesses. Did you have access to antibiotics in the 50s.
Ann: No not really. We had to drain the abscess and take out the tooth.
Q: After the dental hospital I moved into children dentistry in Port Melbourne, South Melbourne, Oakleigh.
Ann: We’d get the kids from the kindergartens. A free service for the children. We took anybody. We also went to schools and did education.
Q: You raised six children. All are now successful at work and at home. How did your work as a dentist affect bringing up the family?
Ann: John you can answer that better than me.
John: I think you always choose to work part time.
John: Nowadays women get maternity leave. Did you just have a few months off and go back to work?
Ann: A few months off then back to work. We didn’t get paid of course.
Q: What age did you retire at?
Ann: 65.
Q: What part of your job did you most enjoy?
Ann: I enjoyed the whole lot of it. The experience of work and the people I worked with.
Q: Was there anything about work that frustrated you. You didn’t like?
Ann: No.
Q: Looking back at your job what are you most proud of?
Ann: The education we gave to the children and their parents.
Q: When you go to a dentist now is it different or much the same. Have things changed?
Ann: Much the same….except for the antibiotics. They helped a lot.
Q: If someone was interested in doing dentistry now what would you tell them?
Ann: I’d tell them to go for it. It’s a good life. You can adapt your life to fit in. Work part time. I’d tell them to go for it.
Q: And is it a good job for a person raising a family.
Ann: Yes I do. Don’t know what they think. You have to ask John about that.
John: We were very happy.
Q: Can I ask you an annoying question. What did you do with children who didn’t behave in the chair?
Ann: Well I talked to them and they all behaved.
Q: Can I ask another annoying question? The difference between a male and female dentists in those days. Was there much difference? Was there any sexism in training?
Ann: I don’t think so. I think the fellows in my year all treated me very well. No problems at all with that.
One aspect of our talk was Ann had a lot of trouble thinking of changes in dentistry since 1954.
Ann practiced dentistry in the 50’s. Her main interests were:
Healthy balance between work and home.
Goof relationships with her colleagues.
Good relationships with her patients.
Prevention. Ann knew that prevention was better than fillings which were better than extractions.
Ann used the best materials and techniques available at the time. Which was amalgam. Without amalgam there would be none of today’s materials.
Perhaps Ann is right. Perhaps her main concerns are still the big issues in dentistry.