London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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10
Dental
decay
In 1938, the percentage of children found by the school doctors in the statutory
age groups with sound teeth was 68.5 compared with 68.3 in 1937, and 68.5 in 1936.
A comparison with former years is shown in the following table:—
Table 2
| Age group | 1927 | 1932 | 1937 | 1938 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | Serious decay | Sound | Serious decay | Sound | Serious decay | Sound | Serious decay | |
| Entrant boys | 51.7 | 15.3 | 55.6 | 12.2 | 58.7 | 8.2 | 60.1 | 7.8 |
| Entrant girls | 50.7 | 15.2 | 54.7 | 12.1 | 57.1 | 8.4 | 59.3 | 7.4 |
| 7 or 8-year-old boys | 61.1 | 8.1 | 68.8 | 4.7 | 71.1 | 3.9 | 71.1 | 3.9 |
| 7 or 8-year-old girls | 60.9 | 8.3 | 68.8 | 4.7 | 69.7 | 3.7 | 69.2 | 3.9 |
| 11 or 12-year-old boys | 70.6 | 2.7 | 75.1 | 1.5 | 77.7 | 1.0 | 76.9 | 1.2 |
| 11 or 12-year-old girls | 72.3 | 2.3 | 78.0 | 1.1 | 78.7 | 0.9 | 77.8 | 1.0 |
| All above age groups | 60.3 | 9.3 | 67.4 | 5.8 | 68.3 | 4.5 | 68.5 | 4.4 |
N.B.—Serious decay means four or more carious teeth requiring treatment.
It must be remembered that these figures represent only the impressions recorded
by the school doctors, and do not correspond with the findings of the school
dentists making special inspections with mirror and probe. Nevertheless, the improvement
over former years, especially as regards the diminution of oral sepsis,
is noteworthy and the improvement in this respect of late among entrant infants,
who up to 1929 seemed to be getting worse every year, is a striking tribute to the
efforts made at child welfare centres to improve the condition of children before school
age commences.
The subjoined table gives figures for the past twelve years of entrants:—
| Year | Boys | Girls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number inspected | Percentage with sound teeth | Percentage with serious decay | Number inspected | Percentage with sound teeth | Percentage with serious decay | |
| 12.2 | ||||||
| 11.6 | ||||||
| 100 | ||||||
| 8.1 | ||||||
| 60.1 | ||||||
Vision
All children in elementary schools, other than entrant infants, have their
distant visual acuity tested by means of the Snellen cards, those whose defects have
been corrected having their vision tested wearing their glasses. The results for
1937 and 1938 are given in the table below in percentages :—
| Age group | Visual acuity (percentages) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Slight defect | More serious defect | ||||
| 1937 | 1938 | 1937 | 1938 | 1937 | 1938 | |
| 11.2 | ||||||
| 11.2 | ||||||