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10
children's health that dental inspection and treatment of nil
the childrenin all the departments should be carried out annually.
One whole-time dentist cannot do this for 7,000 elementary
school children. The Authority has, therefore, decided to
furnish and equip the second dental surgery at the School
Clinic and appoint an additional dentist half-time. A dental
attendant is also to be appointed. It is hoped that with the
increase of service dental inspection and treatment may be
completed throughout the schools in the course of one year.
The practice of the school dentist (.Miss Winifred Hunt) is to
carry out dental inspection of a whole school and offer treatment
for the children requiring it. The percentage of acceptances
varies from 63 to 75 in different schools and is higher than the
average for the country as a whole. A certain number have
treatment from their private dentists and some attend dental
hospitals. Those accepting the treatment offered at the
School Clinic are sent for in batches forenoon and afternoon
until the dental treatment at that school is completed. The
children forming each batch are selected by the Head Teacher
with a view to causing as little disturbance of school routine
as possible. The greater portion of the dentist's time is
occupied in fillings. Some extractions are done with local
antesthesia and one session per week is devoted to extraction
under general anaesthetic, administered bv the Assistant Medical
Officer.
Portions of two sessions per week of the dentist's time is
devoted to emergencies—i.e., children sent from the schools with
toothache, dental abscess and other casualties. Tf dental treatment
offered at routine dental inspection is refused by the parents
the child is not eligible for any kind of dental treatment until
the next routine dental inspection of the school. When the
more distant schools are being done the school dentist has
fewer cases per session and does more work per child in order
to reduce the number of visits a child has to undertake. I"
the case of Coldfall, the most distant school from the Clinic,
the transport of the children in batches by the ambulance
effects a great saving in the time of the children and expense
to the parents. On completion of the work at one school
the dentist proceeds to the next school, and so on until the