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LONDON BOROUGH OF HAMMERSMITH
SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
Annual Report of the Principal School Dental Officer, 1969
It is being recognised in dentistry, as with other branches of medicine,
that a team approach is necessary to cope with the enormous demands for
treatments For many years dental technicians, dental hygienists, and dental
surgery assistants have all contributed much to providing dental care for
the community.
In 1960 a new type of dental ancillary was created by Act of Parliment,
for an experimental period, called the Dental Auxiliary. On 1st, September,
1969, the Ancillary Dental Workers Regulations, 1968, came into effect and
this Act, which puts Dental Auxiliaries on to a permanent basis, regulates
their training and employment.
Dental auxiliaries are trained and authorised to work under the direction
of a dental surgeon and are permitted to carry out scaling and polishing
of teeth, simple fillings, extractions of deciduous teeth and applications
of fluoride solutions to teeth.
The Borough has employed an Auxiliary for several years and the present
Auxiliary has shown fully the part that Auxiliaries can contribute to
dentistry in the school dental service and pre-school dental service. The
major part of the dental health education programme is carried out by the
dental auxiliary
It is hoped that the high standards of work attained by dental auxilaries
will continue in the futures
School Dental Inspections
Since school dental inspections were re-introduced in 1965 the School
Dental Servica has not been able to cover the whole school population.
This has meant that priority has been given to the regular dental inspection
of infant and junior schools. It is hoped in the future that it will be
possible to extend the inspection services into the secondary schools but
this depends upon an improved staffing positions
In 1958, 55.8% of the total school population were inspected but unfortunately
the demand for treatment exceeded the capacity of the service
to provide it. This meant that in 1969 only 41.1% of the school population
were inspected. It is encouraging that in 1969 only 54.7% of children inspected
at school required treatment compared with 68.9% in 1966. It is
probable that regular dental inspections are encouraging an increasing
proportion of children to seek regular dental treatments

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