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than in the control groups. In order to make a comparison I have turned the figures into percentages.

Taken in conjunction with the other two tests they point in the same direction and are, therefore,
of some significance. But I should be disinclined to press the significance too far.
The fact that the treatment cards of the children attending the Wick centre are kept there,
made it easy to examine the cards of all the children inspected. In the case of the control children
these facilities were not available. It would have greatly increased the difficulties of the inspection
to have procured these cards, and entailed much clerical work, and for that reason no attempt
was made to correlate the inspection with the previous treatment of the control children. But
some interesting data can be deduced from the treatment cards of the Wick children to which a
brief reference may be made.

The figures speak for themselves and show that, whatever be the cause of the large number of
"treated and sound" children, it cannot be that their attendance at the Wick clinic was so recent
that fresh caries had not had time to occur.
In an inspection of this kind, carried out throughout by the same person using the same
methods, the clinical impressions gained in the course of the inspection, as apart from specific
data tabulated at the time, are not without their value. It became apparent early in the course
of the inspection of the Wick centre children, which was carried out before the examination of
the controls, that the results of treatment were very good. At that time I did not know, of
course, whether the dental condition of the controls would turn out to be better or worse, but it
was quite certain that the Wick children set a high standard. One thing I noticed was the large
amount of conservative work in the mouths of these children. The number of fillings which had
been done was very large. Later on I was able to check this impression from the record cards,
and noted the number of fillings in each child.
The figures may be of interest. The number of fillings in temporary teeth was 464. The
number of fillings in permanent teeth was 1,194. These figures are taken from the record cards,
and represent in many cases treatment at periods of six months over nearly two years. In some
cases the same tooth had been filled on more than one occasion. But these figures represent the
actual number of fillings carried out as gleaned from the children's cards. I did not take any note
of the number of fillings present in the control children, but I feel certain that the number was far
less. It is possible, though I am not prepared to state it definitely, that this may serve to explain
the slight difference between the number of carious teeth per child in the Wick and the control
groups. Where stress is laid on conservative treatment and as large a number of teeth as possible
are filled, it permits a greater amount of recurrent caries than when the treatment is of a more
drastic character and a larger number of teeth are extracted. Another feature which deserves
mention is that in many children the fissures in the permanent molars had been thoroughly opened
up and filled on the lines advocated by Hyatt. It was a pleasure to see fillings so well done and
lasting so well. I noted that in these cases recurrent caries was very slight.
Conclusions based on a comparatively small number of children who had received the special
treatment at the Wick centre for the short time of two years should be made cautiously. That
the Wick children showed a better dental condition is indisputable. To what can this be ascribed ?
Three possibilities present themselves :—
(i) The prophylactic treatment of cleaning and polishing carried out by the dental
hygienist.
(ii) The efforts made to persuade parents who had refused treatment to recant by means
of letters and visits as well as talks on dental hygiene, which may all serve to bring about
what the Americans call " Toothmindedness."
(iii) The character of the work done at the clinic.
Data
applicable to
the Wick
special centre
children only.
General
impressions.
Conclusions.
D