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In a very few areas the Ministry of Education ratio of 1-3,000 patients has been almost
reached but the national average attained is in the region of 1-6,500—an impossible
ratio if proper dental attention is to be given to children who attend a school dentist.
In some areas ratios of 1-20,000 and upwards prevail, but such disproportion is not
in dentistry really more absurd than is the present average of 1-6,500. Any ratio beyond
the potentiality of an operator must result in indifferent or even bad dentistry for at least
some of the patients who seek his aid. If the spread-over policy is adopted—that is, no
revisional treatment for those already treated until all others have had their chance—the
probability is that most patients who attend will be misled and served badly. The potentiality
of a dental operator in a given time must be recognised and acknowledged if the patients he
treats are to receive sound attention. Proper professional dental care is unlikely to be
available to many children in this country until all trained dental personnel is mustered,
until (possibly) dental auxiliaries and school dental officers are restricted to a proper
professional ratio of patients, and the resources of the general and private dental practitioners
are tapped to ensure that they will be deflected also in large part to serve that
section of the public which the British Dental Association and other knowledgeable bodies
have advised require priority, namely, the mothers and children.