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122
DENTAL TREATMENT
(Maternity and Child Welfare)
F. ELSTON, L.D.S., R.C.S.Eng., the Chief Dental Officer,
reports:—
"Whilst all other branches of the Maternity and Child Welfare
Services transferred from the London County Council in 1965 are
now firmly and autonomously under the control of the Borough
Council, the appropriate dental services are very closely linked with
those of the School Health Services. Issues raised in the School
Dental Services report, therefore, apply equally to the Maternity and
Child Welfare Dental Services.
The problems of 1966 were mainly those of organisation and
consolidation and, although the Inner London Education Authority's
re-equipment and modernisation of its clinics has, of course, been
of great benefit to the Maternity and Child Welfare dental services,
there is still an acute shortage of dental surgeons. However, in the
future, the Maternity and Child Welfare Dental Services are destined
to play an increasingly important role, for dental disease is understood
and preventable and efforts, every bit as arduous as direct
treatment of established lesions, will have to be made in the direction
of prevention. It is the aim, therefore, not only that every expectant
and nursing mother shall be reached with a thorough explanation
of the origin of dental disease and the simple preventive measures
but also to afford treatment facilities to as many of the 'under 5s' as
can be accommodated at the clinics.
Recognition by the Royal College of Surgeons of the importance
of the dental aspects of public health is evident in the establishment
in 1966 of the Diploma in Dental Public Health, a qualification
analagous to the D.P.H. required of Medical Officers of Health.
In all medical and surgical conditions, assessment is essential
and, in a similar way, this is necessary with regard to a service.
Realistically, it must be reported that this service remained stationary
during 1966 but, nevertheless, it must also be stated that explosive
expansion outstripping treatment facilities would inevitably lead to
chaos and while the execution of important work is emminently
desirable, shortage of qualified staff precludes its implementation.
Although all clinics dealt with the sporadic Maternity and Child
Welfare patient, only one centre was able to devote itself to regular
sessions. Consequently the service was constrained to concentrate
on dental health education and locally prepared publications entitled
'Dental Facts' and its supplement for the 'Care of Small Children's
Teeth' were distributed during 1966 at the various clinics in order to
reach mothers who were deprived of personal tuition by reason of
the shortage of dental surgeons.