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113
School dental service
Report by A. F. Weedon, B.D.S., D.D.P.H., R.C.S., Principal
School Dental Officer.
Once again it is a pleasure to report a happy and productive
year due to the enthusiastic approach to their work by a full and
stable staff. This continuity in staff ensures good relations with
both parents and children, promoting a goodwill which is very
valuable in carrying out regular treatment and helps to keep the
failure rate low.
Staff changes were minimal again this year and the establishment
was kept very full throughout the year, making it relatively
easy to fill the occasional vacancy with new personnel of good
calibre. Staff morale has thus remained very high, the only cause
for concern being the re-organisation of the health services
scheduled for 1974. Members of the staff have expressed a desire
to see a definitive framework for the dental service emerge from
the current uncertainty which they naturally find rather unsettling.
There is no doubt that a situation is arising in which the dental
profession has an unrivalled opportunity to arrange, in co-operation
with the Department of Health and Social Security, a framework
for the comprehensive dental care of the whole community,
with special emphasis on prevention. Within such a framework
there will be a vital role for the present local authority and school
dental services.
Because of the larger reservoir of dental treatment available, we
have to keep running to meet the demand. For this reason, dental
health education has largely been provided on an individual basis
at the chairside in the surgery. In March we were fortunate to
acquire the services of a dental auxiliary who is very keen on
dental health education. Miss Mutter has been encouraged to contact
progressively more and more primary school head-teachers,
and with their co-operation has been providing group instruction
in oral hygiene, its necessity and its benefits. This is reinforced
in the surgeries by continuing with the individual chairside
instruction. As we see the minor percentage of the school population,
it is necessary to expand this service and maintain a continuing
programme of instruction throughout the primary schools.
The statistics record a good year. An orthodontic service has
been growing throughout the year, expanding from 121 sessions
last year to 354 this year. Another figure worth recording
separately is that dental health education sessions rose from eight
sessions last year to 115 this year. Both these increases are a tribute
to the individuals responsible for the work involved. I.L.E.A.
mobile surgeries were used again for a total of thirteen weeks at
the special schools.