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139
Report of the Medical Officer (Education).
organised school dental care. In this country Cambridge has carried out a municipal service for the
dental treatment of elementary school children for several years. At Bradford during the past year
dentistry has been added to the activities of the school clinic managed by the municipality, and other
towns are now appointing school dentists. London first moved in this matter when the Sub-Committee
on the Medical Treatment of School Children, appointed by the Council, made the following
recommendations as to teeth in 1907—
1. That in the opinion of this Sub-Committee there is a prevalence of dental caries
among children attending public elementary schools and that the existing accommodation in
the hospitals and dispensaries for even simple dental examination and treatment is wholly inadequate.
2. That in the opinion of the Sub-Committee it is desirable that provision should be
made for simple dental treatment of school children.
3. That it is desirable that instruction in the hygiene of the teeth should be given to
school children and to their parents or guardians.
4. That it is desirable that the daily use of the tooth brush by children in their homes
be encouraged.
5. That it is desirable that from time to time children be examined as to the cleansing
of their teeth.
It was decided ultimately by the Council that the problem was one to be dealt with separately
from medical treatment and whilst attention was turned to making arrangements with existing institutions
such as hospitals for ordinary treatment, the consideration of dental provision was postponed, to be
taken up during the past summer. As had been foreseen, with some small exceptions no arrangements
could be made with any hospitals for the dental care of children. The professional dental associations
refused to consider any co-operative arrangements for establishing dental surgeries on the lines of
the medical treatment centres at Norwood and elsewhere. So far the work which has been done in
the schools has chiefly been with a view of gaining some experience of the existing conditions, and
towards establishing a kind of dental propaganda described below.
During the winter of 1909-10 Mr. C. E. Wallis undertook the systematic dental examination
of all the children at the "Blackfriars" School, recording the dental and dependent conditions on a
chart for each child. Such careful work is only necessary in a pioneer investigation. The
children were instructed and then took it in turn to speak to some of the younger children, so
that a dental hygiene card hung on the waiting room wall was thoroughly appreciated by all. The
teachers were also supplied with a circular on the care of the teeth and on "toothbrush clubs."' This
propaganda stirred up much interest in the school and prepared the way for the dentist's advice and
for the attendance of the children at a dental centre.
St. George s Dispensary.—A free dental clinic was opened as a part of his dispensary work
by Dr. Kirby in January, 1910. No charges were made, and it is highly improbable that any
could have been obtained in this very poor neighbourhood. The treatment was done apart from
any of the Council's schemes. The honorary secretary of the school care committee at Blackfriars made all
arrangements for the attendance of children, and a nurse attended on the appointed days at 4.15 p.m.
and took from the school to the surgery a number of children whose parents had already consented
to their receiving treatment. This course had to be adopted, as although the parents signed the
consent form readily enough, they were generally unable or unwilling to accompany the children. The
attendance of children on each of the two days weekly was thus kept at almost constant level. There
was advantage in this particular case in having the children treated from 4.30 to 6.30 or 7 p.m.,
as it secured the services of an operator actually engaged in private practice, who had considerable
experience with children. During the short time of attendance given weekly there were 400
children from the "Blackfriars" School treated during the year. There was no restriction as to age,
and the following were the numbers recorded—
Centres for
Dental
Treatment.
Number of children seen 400
Number of visits 735
Temporary teeth or roots extracted 847
Permanent teeth or roots extracted 122
Number of stoppings done 837
Other operations, scaling, etc. 295
Number of anaesthetics (gas) 59
The gas was given on Saturdays only, and was perhaps resorted to more frequently than is usual, but
this was to avoid any unpopularity that might have been caused during the early stage of the work
from the infliction of pain. Nothing marred the uninterrupted success of this experiment, which
terminated in December. It is to be recommenced on an extended scale this spring, and will now be
subsidized by the Council at the usual hospital rate, no payment being required from any case sent.
Barrett-street School.—At the Barrett-street School, which is situated in the centre of the
hospital area, the attempt was made to get children requiring dental treatment to go to hospital. There
was steady working up of interest by lectures to the teachers and lantern lectures on parents' evenings.
All the children were examined and their dental conditions charted. A list of dental hospitals and
dispensaries within a mile of the hospital was furnished to the secretary of the school care committee,
who did her utmost to secure the attendance at the hospital of the children who had bad teeth and
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