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connection with their survey of physically handicapped children in special schools, to discover the number
of such children and the degree and severity of their handicap.
PROVISION OF SECOND PAIRS OF SPECTACLES
As children at special schools are especially dependent on their spectacles (i.e. some deaf children being
unable to lipread or read from the blackboard without them) arrangements were made for them to be issued
with a second pair. These spectacles were to be kept at the school as a reserve so that they could be used if
the pupils arrived at school without the other pair or if the other pair was broken.
TRANSPORT OF CHILDREN TO ORDINARY SCHOOLS
If a child suffered an accident or illness which resulted in a temporary disability which prevented him or
her travelling to school in the normal way, the school medical officer was sometimes asked to decide
whether special transport should be provided. Careful enquiries were made to ensure that the transport was
justified and that the child would be able to work satisfactorily when he eventually reached school. A child
with a leg plaster, for example, might have great difficulty in negotiating several flights of stairs in order to
attend various classes during the course of the day. School medical officers recommended that special
transport should be provided for a number of such children during the year.
HOME TUITION
5 (7) children who were unable to get to school even if transport were provided and would be absent for
a considerable time were recommended for home tuition during 1970.
REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL SCHOOL DENTAL OFFICER AND CHIEF DENTAL OFFICER
The School dental service, which is run on behalf of the Inner London Education Authority and in
conjunction with the Borough, is a service possibly more than any other where everything is
interdependent. Without adequate ancillary staff and the co-operation of the Education Service in
permitting dental inspections it would cease to exist.
Happily our efforts to see that things do not go wrong in these respects are on the whole successful.
The full-time equivalent of dental officers employed increased from 4.3 to 4.6, which resulted in an
increase in sessions from 2,257 in 1969 to 2,406 in 1970. The total visits for treatment increased from
12,629 to 13,110. It is gratifying that the total number of fillings in both permanent and temporary teeth
increased from 9,253 to 11,068.
During 1970 we introduced blood testing to guard against the possibility that someone with sickle cell
anaemia might have a general anaesthetic without knowledge and its introduction would account, possibly
as a result of the incidental extra trouble involved, for the number of anaesthetic sessions decreasing from
34 to 26; the total number of extractions also decreased, from 1,929 to 1,623, although this latter decrease
is not necessarily entirely related.
The number of emergencies attending for treatment fell from 667 in 1969 to 453 in 1970.
The ratio of permanent teeth filled to permanent teeth extracted was 24.6 compared with 23.7 in 1969,
and that of temporary teeth filled with those extracted 2.4 compared with 1.8 in 1969. This registers an
improvement but again must be set against the fewer general anaesthetic sessions.
The new orthodontic service did not expand quite as much as had been hoped for, but did nevertheless
register a considerable advance over 1969. The number of new orthodontic cases increased from 23 to 36,
and 44 removable and 10 fixed appliances were fitted compared with 31 removable appliances in 1969.
Altogether, this service is attracting much more attention and I am confident that it will continue to
grow.
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