London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Poplar 1934
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Poplar, Metropolitan Borough]
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147
Recovery was complete and uneventful in 118 cases. In one child
nasal Diphtheria developed, and in another Otitis Media. Both made
good recoveries. Nine children who were transferred to the medical
ward and kept for a longer period required treatment for other conditions
such as Malnutrition.
The operations are performed by Mr. T. Twistington Higgins, F.R.C.S., and Mr. Denis Browne, F.R.C.S., Surgeons to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street. Dental Clinic.
| Mothers. | |
| Number of individual patients | 258 |
| Total attendances | 615 |
| Average attendance per clinic | 8.67 |
| Dentures supplied | 38 |
| Repairs | 25 |
The work has still to be confined to extractions for the removal of
sepsis and relief of pain, to scaling, and the provision of dentures.
Three extractions were performed under local anaesthesia; nitrous oxide
was employed for all others. Extractions were performed on 66 pregnant
women and 184 after delivery. An obturator, or artificial roof to the
mouth, was made for a baby with a cleft palate to enable it to feed at the
breast and was twice renewed to keep pace with the growth of the child.
It fulfilled its object successfully.
Women for whom dentures are made are now supplied at the same time with a special brush, a tin of powdered pumice and instructions on keeping the dentures clean.
| Children. | |
| Number of individual patients | 317 |
| Total attendances | 594 |
| Average attendance per clinic | 12.9 |
Extractions were necessary in 265 cases, and 21 fillings were done
during the year. Ethyl chloride by the open method is the anaesthetic
employed, and the mask invented by Mr. Denis Browne, F.R.C.S., has
made its administration very much less unpleasant for the children, and
more effective for the surgeon.