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99
In order to improve the service generally, additional and more
up-to-date equipment is to be provided in the dental surgeries, the
first item to be supplied being new dental operating lamps.
During the year all pupils age five years were inspected at school,
together with some six-year-olds towards the end of the year under
the revised scheme: 3,551 inspections were carried out at
schools, compared with 800 inspections in 1965. In addition, 6,314
children received first inspections at clinics, compared with 6,798
in 1965.
The slight downward trend in the proportion of children inspected
who needed treatment, noted in 1965, when it was 69.0 per
cent., continued in 1966, when it was 66.1 per cent., but this still
leaves much to be desired. The response rate of new cases attending
for treatment also allows scope for improvement, being 50.8
per cent. for 1966, which is practically the same as the rate for
1965 (50.2 per cent.). For "on-treatment" cases the response
rate was 72.0 per cent. in 1966, compared with 72.5 per cent. in
1965.