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prior to the operation for the removal of tonsils and adenoids;
(b) cases referred by the School Medical Officer; (c) children
referred from the Tuberculosis Dispensary; (d) "casuals"
referred by head teachers as needing treatment for acute conditions;
the last-mentioned group and many of group (a) consist
of children for whom treatment had been previously refused.
During the year 1,816 special emergency forms were issued.
Pre-School Children.
A considerable number of children when they enter school
have dentitions so ravaged by disease that conservative treatment
is impossible. Some of these children have had opportunities for
treatment, but the parents have not realised the necessity; nevertheless,
there are numbers who would have had treatment but
were ineligible through non-attendance at the Child Welfare
Centres.
Inspection and treatment for the pre-school child is
restricted to those who attend the Child Welfare Centres, but
unfortunately only about 50 per cent. attend. The solution
appears to rest entirely in the extension of dental inspection and
treatment to all children during the pre-school period. A comprehensive
scheme of treatment for the pre-school child would
reduce considerably the time now spent on the 5 and 6-year-old
entrant groups of school children and permit more time to be
devoted to other age groups.
Preventive and Educative Measures.
The prevention of dental disease is a greater achievement
than its correction by treatment, and it is only by preventive
methods that the incidence of dental disease can be reduced. As
the school dental officers are so occupied in treatment, they have,
unfortunately, very little time to devote to dental education. The
teaching of dental health in schools by the teachers would help
immensely. The teacher's influence on the child's mind is in
many ways greater than that of the parents. If thev could,
among their multifarious duties, add another, namely, the
imparting of a knowledge of oral hygiene to the children in
their care, the results would soon be seen in an improved standard
of dental hygiene.
The Dental Surgeons can help by giving talks at Clinics
and Centres; and Health Visitors in carrying out home visitations
have a unique opportunity for promoting knowledge for
prevention of dental disease.