View report page

579
Dental Surgeon, assistant and nurse, to a simple arrangement
by which a given Dentist undertakes to give services at his
Surgery upon certain days and hours at a scale of charges
which is agreed upon—the mothers and children referred to
him, to receive attention when a card is presented signed by
the Medical Officer of the Centres. The latter simple and
comparatively cheap arrangement should suffice for Stoke
Newington, and valuable results could be obtained even if the cost
to the Council were limited to an annual sum of £60-£80—
half of which would be met by a grant from the Ministry of
Health.
Many of the patients would pay the whole of the reduced fees
charged by the dentist; the very large majority would pay some
portion of those fees; and there would be but a few necessitous
cases in which the whole of the cost would fall upon the Council.
Of course similar precautions to those taken in connection with the
gratuitous provision of milk would apply to the last-mentioned
cases.
In certain respects the Borough Council of Stoke Newington
has been a Pioneer Council in the development of Maternity and
Child Welfare work, but we are lagging behind a large number of
other Local Authorities in this matter of dental treatment. Its
value is everywhere testified to. Bad teeth in childhood do much
more than cause pain, loss of rest, and disfigurement, they are a
serious handicap to healthy normal development, and so sound
teeth are a big factor in national health and vigour. Bad teeth
lead to the insufficient mastication of food, and digestive disturbances
which prejudicially affect normal nutrition and health, they
are responsible for the long retention of particles of food in the
mouth, and to decomposition products along with purulent matter
from gums, being swallowed—with the result of minor degrees
of septic poisoning, which sap health and energy. It is recognised
that this is a serious handicap to the normal healthy functioning
of expectant and nursing mothers.
The period of childhood is a critical period for the teeth, and
neglect at this period may mean a lifelong disability. The