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107
School Dental Service
Report of the Principal Dental Officer
During the year the arrangements for school dental inspections
were extended to incorporate the whole infant school population
and some junior schools, in accordance with the Inner London
Education Authority's recommendation for an annual inspection
of all schoolchildren. An inspection of the total school population
of 45,408 was not possible because of lack of staff. The present
permitted establishment is up to strength but the possibility of
increasing our staff is being investigated. Our inability to inspect
all schoolchildren during the year was compensated for by the
issue of 34,000 forms to parents inviting them to bring their children
for an inspection at a clinic, or alternatively requesting them
to make an appointment with the dentist of their choice. These
forms pointed out to parents the need for regular dental inspections
of their children. Over 31,000 forms were returned and 9,000
parents opted for treatment in the school dental clinics.
Since 1 took up my appointment as Principal Dental Officer at
the end of September, the existing scheme of inspection and treatment
has been closely examined and during the coming year various
changes will be introduced to streamline procedures and improve
the efficiency of the School Dental Service. Orders have been
placed for a large part of the equipment needed to modernise the
dental surgeries and so enable the Dental Officers to provide the
best types of treatment available. The most urgently needed items,
the latest air-bearing drills, are expected to be installed early in the
New Year.
As a result of the change of policy involving the introduction of
annual dental inspections of all schoolchildren, the total number
of children inspected during 1967 shows an increase of 41% over
the previous year, but otherwise the statistics for the year vary
only a little from 1966. Comparisons can be made from the
following table:—
Sessions and attendances
Sessions: 1966 1967
Number of treatment sessions 2,502 2,246
Number of inspection sessions in schools 73 130
Total 2,575 2,376
First inspections:
Number of first inspections in schools 3,551 8,264
Number of first inspections at clinics 6.314 5,691
Total 9,865 13,955