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131
the inquiry since its inception. During 1952, the children came under the supervision
of the school health service and detailed forms of inquiry were completed by school
doctors and school nursing sisters.
In the latter part of the year facilities were granted to Professor F. S. Cotton,
Professor of Physiology at the University of Sydney, Australia, to carry out research
into the physiology of exercise and sport by testing children in primary schools.
DENTAL SERVICES
the council's Chief Dental Officer reports as follows:
In 1952, for the first time in several years, the graphs (page 132) of the school dental
service showing the numbers of dental inspections and of treatment sessions ceased to
drop and showed an upward trend. Attention for the pre-school child and for expectant
and nursing mothers also showed some improvement. A main difficulty, as formerly,
was insufficiency of staff and for a further year it was impossible to attempt an educational
drive and a systematic inspection programme, without which full dental care is unlikely
to be possible. Systematic follow-up of absentees and revisional treatment of patients
rendered dentally fit were operated only to a slight extent where a better staff-patient
ratio permitted or by special selectivity on the part of a dental officer. The 1952 staff
figures show a considerable improvement compared to those of 1951 and fewer officers
with lengthy experience of the Council's dental service resigned.
The signs throughout the year were, generally of a return to the possibility of
building a sufficient dental care service to improve the ameliorative treatment service
still operating.
Reference has been made in reports on preceding years to efforts to clarify the
responsibility for the provision of dental service by the authorities responsible for Part II
(hospital), Part III (local health authority) and Part IV (general dental) services. During
1952 continued effort was almost entirely successful. The principal problem remaining
was in relation to dental treatment of expectant and nursing mothers at hospitals where,
under Part II service, charges to patients in respect of dentures supplied were introduced
by the Act of 1951. In the Council's (Part III) service such appliances are provided free
of cost to the patient. Consultations on the possibility of reference of patients to the
Council's service, or of payment by the Council of the patient's share of cost were
inconclusive.
Every effort was made to increase and strengthen the maternity and child welfare
section of the dental services having due regard meantime to the dental needs of the
school children. Throughout 1952 much of the dental treatment of expectant and
nursing mothers continued to be done under hospital auspices or by general dental
service and private practitioners.