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172
With the inauguration of a Municipal Midwives Service
women are also referred from this source for treatment provided
they are attending an Ante-Natal Clinic.
Since May the equivalent of the whole time of one dental
officer has been devoted to this work.
This co-operation between medical and dental staff is
extremely valuable as it increases the chances of getting the
necessary treatment effected during the early stages of pregnancy,
thus conferring the maximum benefit upon the patient. The old
prejudice against having any dental treatment during the antenatal
period still exists among the less well informed. The dental
staff have, on every occasion, endeavoured to correct this mistaken
attitude.
A large amount of attention was also given on the post-natal
side, though extreme care has to be observed in treating during
the early nursing period. Operative work was in most cases
limited to relief of pain, small conservations, and the fitting of
dentures.
The visits of the dental surgeons to the Welfare Centres do
much to stimulate the interest of mothers in early dental care for
their children. It is now possible to make such visits at considerably
shorter intervals than formerly. Younger members of the
family who are brought to the Centres with the baby are often
induced to submit to an inspection of their mouth, disclosing teeth
which, had they had to wait until their first school inspection,
would have been doomed for extraction, but with prompt treatment
can be saved. The treatment of the school and pre-school
child are so inseparable that one cannot be attempted without the
other. As mentioned in the School Dental Report the benefit of
this work is already making itself felt and will, it is hoped, in the
future do much to improve the unsatisfactory conditions encountered
at school inspections of the Entrants Group.
The improvement effected by the appointment of the wholetime
dentist for this work has been very noticeable during the
year. The number of children awaiting treatment has been reduced
and it has enabled mothers referred during late pregnancy to be
dealt with, instead of being forced to remain untreated until after
their confinement.