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School Dental Service
The service was maintained during the year, though there was
some changes in personnel.
Two full-time dental officers resigned, one for reason of retirement
and the other to take up a similar appointment nearer to his
home; also two part-time dental officers left, all vacancies being
filled with little delay. The resulting staff position remains
unaltered, comprising the area dental officer, five full-time and 16/11
equivalent in part-time dental officers, and one dental auxiliary. The
orthodontist's sessions were reduced for a period of three months
and later restored to six per week.
The total number of sessions worked was 32091, an increase
of 116½ over those for last year. This constituted 89% of the dental
officers' time.
At 175½ inspection sessions 20198 children, i.e. 75% of school
roll were inspected; 11767 (58%) were found to require treatment, and
of these, 6560 (58%) were treated at the clinics. There is evidence
that many children receive regular treatment through the National
Health Service; a small number make only occasional attendances, and
treatment is offered in these cases.
Treatment sessions amounted to 3094. The output of work
remained steady, and continued to be mostly conservative in nature.
14147 fillings were inserted in 12359 permanent teeth, and the number
of permanent extractions . again decreased, by 116 to 701. As 174
of this total were extracted for orthodontic purposes, it follows that
just over 23 permanent teeth were conserved for one permanent tooth
lost by disease. 1245 more temporary teeth were saved than in
1962. A reduction in the number of teeth extracted in both primary
and permanent dentitions showed a corresponding decrease in the number
of general anaesthetics administered, and dentures fitted. 147
evening sessions were held for the treatment of school children, and
were well attended by selected cases, the output of work being greater
with fewer broken appointments than at average day sessions. In
general, the number of appointments not kept continues to cause
concern, 21.3% children failing to attend without excuse, or the notice
given being too short to offer the appointment to another patient.
The Dental Auxiliary has worked her first full year as part of
the experimental scheme to assess the value of such persons in the
Local Authority Service. 90% of her time has been devoted to the
School Dental Service, and for 13% of this she has been engaged on
Dental Health Education in schools, concentrating her efforts on
children aged seven to eleven years. These classes were mostly
in the Hornsey part of the Area where her clinical duties were carried
out. She was well received in the schools, and we feel she is
making a good contribution in the field of preventive dentistry. It
is worthy of mention that the dental auxiliary is held against the
establishment of dental officers, although the number of clinical
sessions undertaken, and the output of work (partly because she is
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