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The number of broken appointments at our clinics has again been reduced this year
to 32.5% (1968-39.6%) but this figure is still of grave concern to all the staff
During the year a system of informing schools of the appointments of children booked to
attend the following week at each clinic was tried in some are as The response achieved
justifies the expansion of the scheme but a further burden of paperwork on our already
overworked dental surgery assistants is the inevitable concomitant
The volume of demand for treatment is such that parents have to be advised to
obtain treatment from local general dental practitioners when waiting lists reach
irrational proportions The problem is particularly great in the Stepney and Wapping
are as served by the single surgery clinic at Prunel1a Treatment Centre and in the Bow
and Bromley areas served by single surgery clinics at Wellington Way and Bromley
Treatment Cnetres. The demand at Wapping and Stepney will be met when new premises
already planned become factual entities but problems at the other clinics can only be
met by converting existing rooms into extra surgeries. As discussed in previous
reports the alternative of mobile equipment or mobile surgeries in caravans taken to
schools during term time would be even more acceptable as they would enable dentistry
to be taken to the patient thereby reaching those dentally deprived children who will
never be taken to any dentist by their parents for routine treatment
Dental Health Education and Dental Health Stamps
The routine dental health activities have continued with increased impetus during
the year and follow the guide lines described in the 1968 report. In September Dental
Health Stamps returned in a revised form to all our primary schools.
They were originally introduced in May, 1966 to the 86 primary schools in the
borough The stamps are given to the children by their own dentist when they attend for
examination and treatment- They are intended to add interest and incentive to the
children's dental activities whilst at the same time helping to co-ordinate the efforts
of all the dental personnel in the area whose mutual co-operation is enhanced by a
unifying enterprise.
The modern idiom of consumer stimulation through consumer stamp collecting and
potential of personal reward has been used and the children have been spurred to
greater efforts by inter-class and inter-school competition. In the age groups served
by these schools it is apparent that for children to be able to display tangible
evidence of dental treatment and dental fitness is often more important to them than
the largely unseen and unappreciated improvements in the state of their teeth.
The objectives of the scheme are:
1. Motivation of children to attend their own dental practitioners for regular
examination and treatment - this to be integrated with routine dental health
education and the normal school dental inspection procedure.
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