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DENTAL SERVICE
STAFF.
Mr. M.C. Downer, the Principal School Dental Officer, took up his
duties on 3rd July, 1967.
On 31st December, 1967, the borough's professional dental staff
consisted of a Principal Dental Officer and three full-time Dental
Officers. This compares with one full-time and three part-time Dental
Officers on 31st December, 1966.
The Dental Officers were assisted by four Dental Surgery
Assistants, of whom two are on the National Register of Dental Surgery
Assistants. The clerical establishment was increased by one during
the year.
PREMISES.
Four clinics were in use during the year, each comprising one
surgery. One, at the Wa'lmer Road Welfare Centre, is new and of a
high standard. The second, at Westbourne Grove School Treatment
Centre, is satisfactory but it is not well sited in relation to the
schools served. The third, at the Chelsea School Treatment
Centre - a converted dwelling house - is not entirely satisfactory
owing to the inadequate space available, and it is planned to replace
it by a double surgery clinic at the Violet Melchett Centre. The
fourth surgery, at the North Kensington School Treatment Centre, is
situated in premises of unsatisfactory standard and consideration is
being given to its replacement.
INSPECTIONS AT SCHOOLS.
Full scale routine dental inspections, giving priority to infant
schools, were resumed in September, 1967, and it is hoped to examine
every school child at least once a year. By the end of the year,
fourteen infant and two junior schools and departments were dealt
with.
Slightly over sixty per cent of the children inspected required
treatment. The percentage varied from eighty-nine per cent in one
junior school in a more socially depressed neighbourhood to thirty-one
per cent in an infant school in a more prosperous area.
The fact that only fourteen schools or departments were
inspected during the first term in which the programme was in
operation out of a total of sixty-nine in the borough is an indication
both of the demand for treatment from the service and of the amount
of treatment required by individual children.
Routine dental inspections in nursery schools and nursery
departments of infant schools also serve to draw the attention of
parents to the importance of dental care in the under fives. Two
such inspections were carried out during 1967.
TREATMENT.
A policy of conservation is followed which extends to decayed
primary teeth as well as permanent teeth. This is important in
order to avoid orthodontic problems arising in the maturing child