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School Dental Service
The Area Dental Officer, Miss Hunt, reports the staff consisted
of five full-time dental officers, the area dental officer, and sessional
dental officers ranging from two to five, at times working from five
to eighteen sessions per week. One full-time dental officer has
reached pensionable age and is re-employed on an annual agreement.
The orthodontist undertakes six to seven sessions weekly.
The dental surgery assistant situation has been variable.
Difficulty was experienced at the beginning of the year as replacements
were unobtainable. Later there was an improvement which was
maintained.
Sick leave of dental officers and surgery assistants on occasions
caused some disruption of the service.
16,904 pupils were inspected, being 61% of the school roll,
and of these 11,078 (67%) required treatment. 54% of this number
received treatment, and made an average of three attendances per
child.
Our aim is to conserve the dentition, and 14.5 permanent teeth
were filled for each permanent tooth extracted for disease. Nevertheless,
57 children were fitted with dentures.
Although it was obvious at routine school inspections that a
good deal of treatment was carried out by practitioners in the National
Health Service, the demand for the services of the dental officers in
the clinics was considerable.
Broken appointments for all patients amounted to 25%, a further
disappointing increase of 3% over those for 1960.
Evening sessions numbering 154 were worked and were well
attended showing their value. Appointments after school hours are
appreciated by older children who may not want to miss lessons.
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