London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of Westminster 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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responsible for more ill-health among children than any other, namely,
dental caries. The percentage of these cases in the year works out at
0, 2-6, 18'1, 34 0, and 63 6 respectively.* It may farther be added that,
as a rule, the later the age the more extensive was the disease. A veiy
similar rise is seen both with enlarged tonsils and with adenoids, while
the proportion of these cases in urgent need of surgical treatment
increases yearly, indicating, of course, the aggravation of the condition
when left untreated. With rickets, on the other hand, the incidence
reaches a maximum in the second year, thereafter rapidly declining.
Altogether the 374 children presented 332 defects. In addition, the
feeding in a large proportion of the cases in the earliest years needed
some modification, great or small, almost exactly one-half the cases
under one year's standing in need of some revision in this connection.
The following table summarises the incidence of the more important
delects.
Table showing the Incidence of the Commoner defects in each of the first five years.
| 0 Year. | 1 Year. | 2 Years. | 3 Years. | 4 Years. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per cent. | Per cent. | Per cent . | Per cent. | Per cent. | |
| — | |||||
| — | |||||
| — | — |
The practical conclusion from the point of view of preventive and
curative treatment is too obvious to need stating. Suffice it to say that
there is no reason to suppose that the children examined at the Centre
differ materially from other children of their class, at any rate in urban
areas, and it is highly probable that, as similar Inspection Centres are
organised elsewhere, the results will be, in the main, similar to those in
Westminster. In other words, large numbers of children, healthy in
every respect at birth, become, within five years, the physically defective
entrants whom the Education Authorities are required, at no small cost,
to restore, as far as possible, to their original state of health. Yet most
of these cases are preventable, if taken in time, and can be remedied
more speedily and therefore more cheaply than if left until school age.
by which time not a few will have received permanent damage, physical
or mental. The problem of the defective child, therefore, resolves itself,
in most instances, into the problem of the under-school-age child, and is
* These figures lead up very well to the statement of the Chief Medical Officer
to the Board of Education (Annual Report, 1910, p. 166) that "not more than a
few children out of every hundred .... fail to bear evidence of present or past
dental disease."