The Mobile Prosthetic Laboratory

The order has been placed in England for a Leyland ‘Lynx’ DXI chassis of special design which will be shipped to the 2 NZEF in June or July [1940] and the body which is a specially designed dental laboratory is practically completed at the NZ Railway Workshops. The steel frame of this body was designed to fit the Chassis ordered and is provided with hooks and slings for handling on land and shipboard. The interior will be completely equipped as a prosthetic laboratory for the provision and repair of dentures, with the exception of the expendable tools and materials which the War Office has been asked to provide.

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Eight NZDC light field dental outfits for the Divisional Mobile Dental Section, consisting of surgical panniers equipped with dental engines, instrument cabinets, sterilisers, etc., but no instruments, drugs or materials, were already shipped but were diverted with the Second Echelon to England. In addition there were eight prosthetic panniers partially equipped, eight empty stores panniers and eight fully equipped canvas chair cases.

The unit was concentrated in Trentham Military Camp for training, great stress being laid on its self-sufficiency. The men were trained in the use of the rifle and Lewis gun, taught to transport their own personnel, equipment and stores, and to attend to their own internal economy and feeding. The whole trend of the training was to make them something unique in the Dental Corps, destined for a special service and not to be disintegrated except at peril. The DDS took a personal interest in their progress, even to the extent of having a 16-mm motion picture taken of the unit carrying out field exercises. He saw the unit as primarily part of the Division and, secondly, as part of the dental service to the Middle East Force. This conception was in line with his previous policy of rigid allocation and, as already noted, was in conflict with the view held by the ADDS. He stated in a memorandum sent to the ADDS on 27 August 1940: