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out in marked contrast to our other less desirable adapted premises. Apart
from the Belthorn clinic, there is one surgery in the Waterloo area in the north
of the borough, two surgeries at Stockwell, two at Brixton, one at West Norwood
and one at Streatham. In addition there is a surgery in the grounds of Shirley
Oaks where the Shirley Primary school is treated and some ILEA senior school
children. It would seem that the situation has been reached when these
adapted premises cannot be altered or modernised very much further. There
are plans for dental services in four new Health Centres and one M.C.H.Centre.
The net result will be a gain of four additonal surgeries than exist at present.
Unfortunately some of these plans will not come to fruition until late in the
1970s.
The equipment provided at all the premises is now of a high standard
throughout and must compare very favourably with any other local or education
authority. Particular attention has been paid to provision of equipment that
can be used for the operators to work sitting down and so relieve any
unnecessary physical strain.
School Dental Inspection
Despite carrying out less school inspections in 1972 compared with 1971,
due to staff shortages, the cases referred for treatment has produced too big a
work load for the surgeries and the balance between inspection and early treatment
provision has required a re-appraisal of the situation. It is interesting to
note, of the total number of school children inspected at junior and infant schools
an average of 16% opted for School Dental Service treatment. Even with a full
staff, the number of surgeries available would still not be able to cope with the
demand following inspections, if all schools were inspected annually. A basic
oral survey was incorporated with inspections for 5 and 12 year olds and will be
the subject of a further publication when analysed.
Treatment
Despite the staff situation the total number of visits has increased compared
with 1971. The shortage of dental officers is reflected in the slight decrease of
fillings in permanent teeth and more obviously in the decrease of fillings in the
deciduous dentition. An encouraging sign is that there has been a marked increase
in the number of root fillings and this indicates greater efforts to conserve teeth
rather than extract them. The ratio of teeth filled to extracted is well above
the national average and is as follows
Permanent teeth filled/extracted 9.8 : 1
Deciduous teeth filled/extracted 2.7 : 1