View report page

57
year and after suitable preparation, if the parents are willing, they
are visited by a Medical Officer who completes a penetrating history
of the child and his or her family background. A control child is
selected and the procedure is repeated. During 1967 there were
four such deaths in the area of the London Borough of Greenwich.
Already certain common factors have been demonstrated in the
backgrounds of some children who develop malignant diseases. It
is hoped that analysis of the information obtained from these
families will ultimately reveal the manner in which such tragedies
may be prevented.
Dental Caries—Fluoridation
Although perhaps not considered by the public as a serious
complaint, dental caries is, one might say, a disease of civilisation
in that modern diets have, to a large extent, contributed to the
disgraceful condition of our children's teeth.
Accumulated evidence suggests that of all teeth likely to suffer
from dental caries, 75% are attacked before the age of 15 years and
there is no need to labour the point that the addition of only
1 p.p.m. fluoride in the water supply would eliminate most of the
trouble.
In the U.S.A., laboratory evidence has shown that fluoride leads
to the perfection of crystals of dental enamel and the fluoridation
of water supplies is a rational and practical method of combating
dental decay. This could be achieved at relatively little cost compared
with the present excessive expenditure on dental services,
generally, which will continue to increase if effective preventive
measures are not introduced.
It has been estimated that, to relieve the existing staggering and
exorbitant burden of dental disease, this country needs one dentist
to every 2,000 people. At present, the population/dentist ratio is
3,200:1 but if, as is anticipated, our population rises to 75 millions
by 2000 A.D. and the number of dentists increases at the same rate
as during the last 30 years, then the ratio will deteriorate to
3,750:1.
A population increase of the scale mentioned will have serious
consequences on our dental health services for it is certain that,
despite every effort, the desired population/dentist ratio is unlikely
to be achieved in the foreseeable future. It seems that fluoridation
is the one factor which can help to ameliorate the situation and
because this takes a number of years for its full benefits to become
apparent in the community this becomes not only a social but an
extremely urgent necessity.