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DENTAL SERVICES
(A special article, Appendix B, reviews the school dental service since the inception
of the National Health Service.)
The Chief Dental Officer and Principal School Dental Officer reports as follows:
School dental service
The routine statistical tables show some slight improvement in 1960.
A reduction of the equivalent of one full.time dental officer is shown, but it is noteworthy
that the staff position was maintained only by the continuance of the services of a number
of dentists beyond the normal retirement age of 65. Nine officers were aged between 65
and 72 in 1960.
In total the number of sessions worked in treatment centres fell slightly but was offset
by an increase in the number of inspection sessions held in schools.
It is significant that the increase in inspections was necessitated by the generally weaker
response of new patients to attend for treatment when they were invited to do so. For many
years this response lay around 50 per cent. of the numbers invited but in 1960 was about
38 per cent. Of the failures (62 per cent.) it is known that in many cases a desire and an
intention was expressed to have necessary treatment carried out by private arrangement.
At dental inspections in schools, however, large numbers of children were found to be
in need of treatment and it is certain that a vast amount of reparative or preventive dentistry
remained undone for lack of staff and/or co.ordination of total available dental manpower.
NUMBER OF INSPECTION SESSIONS AT SCHOOLS
114