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122
of a specialised service designed for the treatment of the small
child and for the dental health education of mothers.
Whilst satisfactorily maintaining what in the previous reports
was referred to as a "token service", the year 1967 gave us the
opportunity of a clinical analysis of the state of dental health of
the young child. This year's report is therefore deliberately brief
in order to let the facts speak for themselves.
A sample survey in this Borough of new school entrants in the
five-year age group shows the enormous void which must be filled.
Almost 75% of the children surveyed are shown to have past or
present results of dental disease.
These were our findings :—
Number of children examined 893
Requiring treatment 553 = 61.93%
Not requiring treatment 340 = 38.07%
Sum total of findings:—
Carious teeth 1,955 = 53.13%
Unsavable teeth 47 = 1.27%
Teeth missing for reasons other than
natural shedding 638 = 17.33%
Teeth with satisfactory fillings 1,040 = 28.26%
Average findings per child:—
Carious teeth 2.19
Unsavable teeth 0.053
Teeth missing for reasons other than
natural shedding 0.71
Teeth with satisfactory fillings 1.16
Average dental health per child:—
Sum total of diseased + missing +
filled teeth 4.12
Number of children with perfect dentitions
and no treatment required 234 = 26.20%
Pattern of previous dental treatment:—
No previous treatment 467 = 52.30%
Extractions only 112 = 12.54%
Fillings only 187 = 20.94%
Extractions and fillings 127 = 14.22%
Issues raised in the School Dental Service (q.v.) apply with equal
force to our Maternity and Child Welfare Dental Service for their