View report page

61
per cent. of the infant girls were recorded as having teeth attacked by caries, in 13.4
per cent. the caries was marked as extensive.
At the 8 year old period 45 per cent. of boys and girls presented carious teeth,
extensive caries being, however, now reduced to 10.8 per cent. of boys and 10.4 per
cent. of the girls.
At the 12 year old period 34.7 per cent. of the boys had dental caries and 32.5
per cent. of the girls, but a great improvement was noted in those with extensive caries
which stood at more than 32 per cent in boys and 2.7 per cent. in girls.
Serious as this recorded amount of caries still remains, a comparison of the
figures from year to year reveals the great improvement which has already been
brought about.

Here is seen a very great and cumulative improvement. Between 1913 and
1919, the improvement amounted roughly to five per cent. more children leaving
school with sound teeth ; in two years, from 1919 to 1921, another five per cent.
was added, and in the last year, 1922, still another five per cent., making fifteen
per cent. in all in 9 years. The astonishing progress of the last three years is due
to the fact that children are now leaving school, who, nine years ago, first came
under dental inspection and treatment at the ages 6 to 8.
Last year it was regarded as a noteworthy achievement that some 8,000 boys
and girls in London were leaving school with sound teeth, who would not have done
so had it not been for the preventive and curative measures introduced in connection
with the school medical service. That this number would so soon be raised
to 12,000 was scarcely then anticipated, and the result is, therefore, all the more
inspiriting. It can safely be said that never was money more wisely invested than
that which is devoted to the medical and dental inspection of the children in the
elementary schools.
Unhealthy conditions of the throat and nose are still rife amongst the school
children, but show year by year a diminishing incidence.
Amongst the 199,812 children examined in the age groups, 22,213 were marked
with enlarged tonsils or adenoids, or both, or with other unhealthy throat or nasal
trouble. This represents 12.8 per cent., compared with 16.5 per cent. in the previous
year. In many surveys of school children, both in this and other northern countries,
the conditions mentioned have been found to be much more prevalent, as they
were also formerly in London.
It may be that the school doctors are less prone than they were to draw attention
to the very minor departures from health, but there is good ground for the belief
that greater attention to hygiene is really diminishing the prevalence of nasal disease.
7,290 of the above children were referred for treatment for tonsils and adenoids,
or 36 per cent. The percentage was 4.8 in 1921, 5 5 in 1920, and 6.1 in 1919, so
that in addition to a steady decrease in the total numbers marked, there is also a
steady decrease in the serious cases requiring medical treatment. It may be pointed
out that owing to this decrease the Council's arrangements for the treatment of
tonsils and adenoids have also been progressively curtailed. The diminishing
number of cases requiring operation fortunately gives an opportunity for the introduction
of more adequate methods than were formerly possible.
Tonsils and
adenoids.