London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1951
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
This page requires JavaScript
112
Orthodontic
treatment
The need for special treatment to correct malocclusions or displaced teeth
continued to present a major problem. With insufficient staff to carry out the more
routine dental care it followed that treatment for many children requiring extensive
attention had to go by default. The services of only two orthodontists continued
on a part-time basis during 1951 and one of these resigned in November. At the close
of the year only three sessions per week were expressly reserved for this urgently
required service.
Summary of Work Completed by Orthodontists
| 1950 | 1951 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sessions | 425 | 245 |
| New cases | 266 | 117 |
| Attendances | 5,339 | 3.247 |
| Unsuitable for treatment | 84 | 51 |
| Still under treatment (at 31st December) | 491 | 187 |
| Fixed appliances fitted | 199 | 155 |
| Removable appliances fitted | 452 | 127 |
| Discharged, treatment completed | 424 | 222 |
In addition 210 new cases were treated in the course of the normal treatment
sessions by clinicians (as compared with 247 in 1950) and a further 52 were accepted
for treatment in hospitals (185 in 1950). In all a total of 379 new cases were treated,
a reduction of 389 on the preceding year and of 825 on 1949.
This serious decline in orthodontic service is a matter of grave concern, coupled
with the knowledge that proper preventive care by the conservation of teeth is
impossible with insufficient staff.
Maternity and Child Welfare Dental Service
| 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of ordinary sessions | 4,982† | 2,682 | 2,238 | 1,980 |
| Number of general anaesthetic sessions | 288† | 364 | 368 | 333 |
| Number of appointments offered | * | 31,338 | 26,308 | 23,342 |
| Failed to attend | * | 6,477 | 5,876 | 5,060 |
| Attendances—By appointment | 36,710 | 24,861 | 20,432 | 18,282 |
| Other | 5,392 | 3,891 | 3,313 | |
| Examinations | * | 12,057 | 8,579 | 7,661 |
| Treated—first treatment | 10,959 | 7,032 | 5,116 | 4,753 |
| others | 4 | 13,447 | 11,851 | 10,216 |
| Silver nitrate treatment | 416 | 2,938 | 2,180 | 1,818 |
| Scalings | 1,324 | 1,364 | 859 | 669 |
| Prolonged gum treatment | 135 | 212 | 210 | 214 |
| Fillings | 8,549 | 8,564 | 8,255 | 7,929 |
| Inlays | * | 23 | 22 | 27 |
| Crowns | 1 | 5 | 11 | 6 |
| Number of teeth conserved | * | 7,988 | 7,841 | 7,507 |
| Extractions | 17,355 | 16,560 | 11,257 | 9,289 |
| Dressings | 598 | 2,236 | 2,077 | 1,687 |
| Anaesthetics—local | 349 | 1,784 | 1,457 | 992 |
| general | 3,645 | 4,563 | 3,372 | 3,318 |
| Number of patients prepared for dentures | * | 3,359 | 2,518 | 1,822 |
| Number of patients supplied with dentures | * | 960 | 918 | 590 |
| Dentures supplied—new full | 2,176 | 652 | 655 | 335 |
| new partial | 795 | 782 | 536 | |
| Remakes | 8 | 7 | 19 | 10 |
| Repairs | 235 | 126 | 84 | 63 |
| Number of patients X-rayed. | * | 56 | 23 | 65 |
| Number made dentally fit | * | 5,283 | 5,057 | 4,654 |
† Includes sessions at which attendances were made by other than maternity and child welfare
patients.
* Figures not available; mainly because of variations in record keeping by the metropolitan borough
council dental clinics prior to July, 1948.