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106
Satisfying progress has also been made in re-equipping the dental
surgeries. They have all had the latest air bearing drills installed,
and modern gas anaesthetic machines, X-ray machines, dark rooms
and automatic mixers of filling materials have also been installed
where necessary.
During the year the dental staff met on three occasions. At the
first meeting in June, the London Ambulance Service provided a
very interesting and useful resuscitation demonstration and individual
staff members were able to practice mouth-to-mouth breathing
on their special dummy. We were joined on this occasion by
the Principal Dental Officer from Lambeth, together with half his
staff. In September a representative from a leading dental manufacturing
company showed a very interesting film on the latest
operating techniques in dentistry, and afterwards demonstrated the
maintenance of hand pieces. In December a further meeting of
the staff took place in the Municipal Buildings to discuss the
service in the Borough. These sessions are useful for discussion of
policy and treatment, the meeting of other members of the staff
who may be only voices on the telephone, and the demonstration
and discussion of valuable techniques.
During the course of the year an I.L.E.A. mobile dental surgery
was used for the first time in the Borough. It was used twice at
Linden Lodge School for blind children for periods of one and
two weeks, and for a period of three weeks at the Wandsworth
Training School. It was obvious from these visits that taking
dentistry to the patients, especially the handicapped, has many
advantages and this will be developed further in the future.
Sessions: 1968
Number of treatment sessions 2,510
Number of inspection sessions in schools 187
Total 2,697
First inspections:
Number of first inspections in schools 22,104
Number of first inspections in clinics 4,952
Total 27,056
Percentage requiring treatment 59.7
Reinspections at clinics or schools 1,081
Percentage requiring treatment 69.4
Attendances:
First visits 4,459
Subsequent visits 9,206
Emergency visits 300
Total 13.965
Course of treatment completed 3,819
Fillings done 13,513
Other operations including crown, inlays, X-rays etc. 5.128