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61
Childhood Cancers—Survey
The survey undertaken by the Department of Social Medicine
at Oxford University continues to receive assistance from Health
Visitors and a Medical Officer who visits parents after careful
preparation. These parents are always very willing to help in the
Study and usually indicate that the opportunity to discuss their
child's illness has been helpful.
For the purposes of this Study, twelve families were visited
during the year.
Dental Caries—Fluoridation
Without being particularly observant, most people must be
aware that dental caries and its effects are widespread.
All relevant evidence points to the fact that rampant decay in
children is more prevalent now than formerly. Professor Winter
of the Institute of Dental Surgery at the Eastman Dental Hospital
in London has stated that 3-year-olds with dentures are becoming
more common now that so many milk teeth have to be extracted
because of the prevalence of caries. Some indication of the extent
of the problem can be gauged from the following information.
More than one-third of the population wear dentures. During
the first ten years of the National Health Service Act over £150
millions were spent on dentures. Time lost to industry on account
of dental trouble is put conservatively at 1 million working days
per year. Nationally, only 2% of children leaving school are
dentally fit.
Locally, during 1967, a sample survey of new school entrants
revealed that 75% had past or present dental disease and that 62%
were in need of dental treatment at the time of inspection. Of
actual school children covered in a similar survey, 73 % were found
to require treatment. A random sample of children between 5 and
13 years of age disclosed that the sum total of diseased, missing
and filled teeth in each child averaged 4.74 and oral hygiene could
be considered good in only one-third of those examined. There is
no reason to suppose that these figures are in any way exceptional.
In my previous reports I have suggested that the population
increase foreshadowed for this area during the next 10 to 20
years could conceivably aggravate the desired population/dentist
ratio and could present the dental health services with insuperable
difficulties.
Already the position regarding the nation's dental health is far
from satisfactory and, in these circumstances, it is right that ways
to prevent further deterioration in our children's teeth should be
explored especially if, as seems feasible, the situation fails to
improve.