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34
Eastman
clinic.
With regard to the first I should doubt whether there was any evidence that the efforts to
get the mouths clean by cleaning them, providing facilities at the clinic for the use of a toothbrush,
etc., have had much effect. I questioned many children and found that on the whole the
use of the tooth-brush was sporadic and often absent. Often I found, when I saw a mouth particularly
clean, that the child denied the use of a brush at all. A denial may be accepted at face
value, though a statement that a brush is used regularly must be accepted with a large grain of
salt. At the same time it would not be fair to regard the efforts of the hygienist as useless. Perhaps
their value is chiefly that it is part of the planned campaign which tends to push the parents
and the children in the direction of taking an interest in the hygiene of the mouth. With regard
to the second, all efforts directed to reducing the number of refusals, and to bring about regular
attendance for treatment, must help in reducing the incidence of caries and improving the oral
condition of the children for whom the Wick clinic was responsible. It may be noted here that no
attempt was made to select children who had attended regularly for treatment. A child who had
been inspected by the school dentist at the Wick clinic even though the parent only allowed the
child to attend once, was included. There were quite a number of such children.
With regard to the third possibility, I attach some importance to the fact that the treatment
itself was throughout conceived and carried out on both prophylactic and remedial lines, e.g.,
the prophylactic filling of permanent molars, and the large number of fillings per child all testified
to a very thorough conception of the role of the school dentist. There is no attempt, in saying this,
to disparage the work carried out at other dental centres. The work present in the control children
was distinctly good, and their condition on the whole, excellent, but, since the Wick clinic was
started for a special purpose, it is natural that those connected with it should regard themselves
as being participators in a pioneer movement and should be unconsciously keyed up to a high
level of achievement in consequence.
It is fair to conclude that the good dental condition of the children treated at the Wick
clinic is an expression of the general quality of the work of all connected with the clinic, and is
due, partly to the excellent quality of the remedial treatment, and partly to the prophylactic
work and propaganda which has resulted in a high percentage of children accepting regular
treatment and in consequence learning to take an interest in the oral hygiene.
I should like in conclusion to say that I am deeply indebted to the assistance of Miss Bennett,
whose help was of the utmost value and who spared no pains to make my task as easy as possible.
At the request of the authorities of the Eastman clinic, Royal Free hospital,
the Council agreed to allow the dental inspection and treatment of the children
attending the Cromer-street, Manchester-street and Prospect-terrace schools to be
undertaken by the clinic on the same lines as at the Wick special centre. A portable
dental chair is taken to each school, where the mouths of the children are charted
by dental nurses or hygienists, who also undertake prophylactic work at the same time.
Appointments are made for the children to attend the clinic for treatment which is
carried out by dental surgeons appointed by the clinic authorities.
The scheme was put into operation in May, 1931, and, during the period up to
the end of the year, 758 children received treatment, and on an average each child
made seven attendances.
In addition to this work the clinic authorities undertake the dental treatment
of scholarship and central school children who may express the wish to attend the
clinic. During the period from May to December, 37 such cases were dealt with.
It is proposed, so far as can be done without injury to the existing school treatment
centres, that further schools shall be allocated to the Eastman clinic, in the
area served by it.
Stammering children.
At the eight centres maintained for the treatment of stammerers a total of 329
children attended during the year ; of these, 54 were discharged as cured and 16 as
provisionally cured, while 57, many of whom had greatly improved, left for various
reasons.
Formerly the arrangements for attendance provided that a group of 12 children
should attend a course twice weekly for periods of 1½ hours each, but it was felt that,
with smaller groups and shorter attendances, greater concentration could be obtained
from the children, more individual attention could be given to them, and freer movement
in the classrooms could be obtained. The Education Committee accordingly
sanctioned a re-arrangement of these conditions, and this re-arrangement came into
operation at the beginning of the summer term.