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REPORT OF THE DENTAL OFFICER, 1971
The two factors occuring in the year under review tended to influence the normal day-to-day
trend ot management of dental treatment, namely:
(a) Introduction of increased charges for N.H.S. patients; and
(b) The introduction of a scheme for painting the teeth of school-children with fluoride gel,
which was foreshadowed in last year's report.
The announcement in the Autumn of 19/0, that there would in an increase in the cost of
N.H.S. dental treatment on 1st April, 1971, meant a big increase in the demand for treatment,
from those seeking to obtain it before the charges were implemented. (In broad terms, the patient
pays half the cost of treatment up to a maximum of £10.) The backlog of such treatment extended
up to September, 1971, when there was a fall in demand for a period of about 3 weeks. Since that
time demand for N.H.S. treatment has returned to the level obtaining, prior to the Autumn of
1970, when the incroased charges were announced.
It is perhaps too early to draw any valid conclusions as to the longer term effects of these
increased charges but perhaps one can sav hopefully, that people recognise that dental treatment
is worth having, and paying for, and perhaps the day may come in the not too distant future, when
we shall pay readily for regular preventive measures, rather than for remedial treatment.
Pre-School Chitdren
A slight improvement in the number of these children requiring treatment can be attributed to
the fact that some of them had already received treatment during the previous year. The figure
of 62% as compared with 66% last year shows a little progress.
School Dental Service — Inner London Education Authority.
School Entrants (5 year olds)
The picture is brighter in this age group — only 20% needing treatment,not so much because
there was less dental disease, but because it had already been treated.
Infants and Juniors
The position here was a little disappointing in that there was a 3% increase in the numbers
requiring treatment, following inspection.
The children actually resident in the City, as distinct from those living outside it, still
seem to have the worst mouths.
Dental Health Education
Apart from individual chairside instruction there have been four visits during the year by the
I.L.E.A. dental health educators giving group dental health education.
Fluoridation
As mentioned earlier in this report, the parents of the children at Sir John Cass's Foundation
School have been offered the opportunity to have their children's teeth painted with fluoride gel.
This has been introduced because it is felt that in the absence of water fluoridation, children
were being deprived of the one really effective and proven dental preventive measure that could
help them. This form of fluoride treatment, though no substitute for water fluoridation, offers them
some small redress for our generation's failure to help them more.
There are various ways in which fluoride can be used to benefit teeth. At the time of its
introduction, painting with fluoride gel seemed to be the most effective and least disruptive of
school-time. At the time of writing it would still appear to be so. It is used considerably in the
U.S.A. and is now increasing in use in this country. 85% of parents opted for their children to
receive it, and it will be given twice a year at school inspections. The instruction in oral hygiene
given at the same time will, it is hoped, produce considerable benefits in time to come.
St. Bartholomew's Hospital
As in former years, great help has been received from the hospital, particularly in cases
where general anaesthesia has been required, and in the field of orthodontics and oral surgery.
Treatment given to patients referred there is painstaking and skilful, and invariably accompanied
by a high degree of courtesy.
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