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Staff and Courses
During the year one dental officer attended a course at Cardiff on the subject of
dental treatment of handicapped children. A course on children's dentistry at the
Royal Dental Hospital in September was also attended. There were a number of staff
changes during the year, the most notable of which was the resignation of our senior
dental officer Mr. A. Longden, who left in January to take up his new appointment as
Principal School Dental Officer in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Mr.
Longden's new post reflects credit not only on himself but also on the work which he
has done in the Borough of Southwark. The senior dental officer position remained
vacant until in November, Miss N. O. Ekanayake, who has been with us since the
inception of the Borough, was appointed to the vacancy. Miss Ekanayake's particular
interest is in the dental care of handicapped children and in this respect it was intended
that she should take over responsibility for treatment of mentally handicapped children
at the Junior Training Schools when the Guy's Dental School project finished at
the end of the year.
Premises and Equipment
The main item of interest in this field during 1971 was the opening of the new
surgery at Bermondsey Health Centre. This was a notable event as it represented the
first completely new surgery in the Borough, previous new surgeries having been replacements
of older premises. The new surgery had been adapted from an existing
room in the dental suite in the Bermondsey Health Centre and with new equipment
and renovation of the room itself an attractive and well lighted surgery has been produced.
Our newly appointed second Dental Auxiliary commenced treatment sessions
at the new surgery towards the end of the year and it was hoped that this service for
the younger children of the Bermondsey area would expand as time went on. As a
result of this the orthodontic sessions were moved to St. George's Health Service
Centre at Blackfriars Road. St. George's is more accessible being better served by
Public Transport and therefore more convenient for children and parents coming
from other clinics in the Borough.
Dental Health Education
During the two weeks that the I.L.E.A., mobile clinic was at Langbourne School,
talks and lessons on the subject of dental health were given to all the children. This was
an effective way of combining dental treatment with dental health education.
At one of the senior girls schools all the first year girls were involved in a practical
lesson during the Autumn term. Under the direction of the dental auxiliary a
number of experiments in various methods of tooth cleaning and the effects of different
foods on teeth were carried out.
As well as these special projects regular dental health education was continued
throughout the Borough's schools in 1971.
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