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required at these establishments.
SERIOUSLY DISTURBED ADOLESCENTS
In 1966 the London Boroughs Association set up a Working Party to study the problem of
provision for seriously disturbed adolescents with a view to ascertaining what could be done
to alleviate the difficulties existing in placing these young people in accordance with their
needs.
This Council approved of the Working Party's proposal to establish a pilot project, aimed
at the statistical assessment of the needs of disturbed adolescents and the provision of
co-ordinating services for them, in an area comprising the London Boroughs of Newham and Tower
Hamlets. An East London Pilot Project Committee was formed, the Committee meeting several times
during the year, and a conference sponsored by the London Boroughs Association was held at
County Hall on 3rd July
SURVEYS
The Department has taken part in a number of surveys during the year in association with
various research studies being carried out by the following bodies/authorities:-
Department of Social Medicine,
Oxford University: Survey of childhood cancers
Greater London Council:
Research and Intelligence Unit Physical handicaps in young people
Medical Research Council: Measles.
DENTAL CARE FOR THE PRIORITY CLASSES
Section 22 of the National Health Service Act 1946 puts Local Authorities under an
obligation to provide dental care for expectant and nursing mothers and children not yet at school
This service is provided for in the same clinics and by the same dental officers who treat
school children in the school health service. Previously separate sessions were devoted to the
priority classes but mothers and their young children are now seen at any of the sessions in
the clinics. It has been found that this arrangement makes it very much easier for mothers and
young children to attend clinics and to receive dental inspections and treatment on the same
day.
The personal dental health of mothers during and after pregnancy and the protection and
proper care of their children's developing and erupting teeth is of paramount importance; it
is equally important for all concerned to understand the need for the toddler to be taken to
the dentist regularly from before their second birthday. In establishing a pattern at this
early age, the young child can easily accept the dentist and his environment, and fear never
need develop. Far better that the child's first visit should merely include simple rides in a
dental chair and the polishing of teeth, than wait until dental decay has brought pain and
discomfort which will always be associated with the dentist. Advice on measures which can be
used to prevent dental disease and applications which can be made to the teeth to strengthen
them against decay will be made available at the same time.
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