View report page

PHYSIOTHERAPY
A physiotherapy clinic service providing ultra-violet light, remedial exercises, massage
and infra-red treatment operates for children who have pasture and breathing defects, flat
feet, knock-knees, bow legs and valgus ankles etc.
SCHOOL NURSING SERVICE
Increasing use on school health work is made of health visitors who participate in this
work in addition to the school nurses employed for the purpose.
THE SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
The Principal School Dental Officer, Mr. D.F. Waller, reports as follows:-
"It is pleasing to be able to show that the controlled evolution of the dental
services for the thirty four thousand school children in the Borough, already outlined in
the 1966 Report, was maintained during the year. The effect of the modern image of the
School Dental Service which recent improvements have created was being felt more and more
towards the end of the year. The provision of modern equipment in the Borough's
redecorated dental surgeries, combined with the enthusiasm of the dental staff, who are
genuinely concerned with Child Dental Health, has already motivated many local parents,
whose opinion of the School Dentist had led them away from our clinics, to reconsider
their views.
The draft model scheme for the School Dental Service states that "The aim of the
service is to ensure that, as far as possible, through dental health education and a high
standard of dental care, children shall leave school free from dental disease and
irregularity, with an understanding of the importance of good natural teeth and zealous
in looking after them". The four main headings under which this aspect of Dental
Public Health can be subdivided are Prevention, Inspection, Treatment' and Education.
(a) Prevent I on
Prevention has, of recent years, become more and more important in the maintenance
of child dental health but has not as yet taken the place that it should in the School
Dental Service or the General Dental Practitioner Service. Preventive measures which
could greatly reduce the incidence of dental disease are readily available to both the
profession and its patients. On the whole, children and their parents care very little
about their teeth, give dental matters a low priority and cannot be bothered to take
preventive action themselves. Unfortunately, many members of the dental profession do
not regularly give preventive advice and treatment. Mass preventive measures are either
uneconomic in general dental practice, impractical on a large scale in the School Dental
Service or unacceptable politically.
A complete preventive service for handicapped children and those on the "At Risk"
register is being planned for 1968-69 and it is hoped that from this, more general measures
may evolve.
80