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52
an extension of the work could best be effected by starting an
Examination Clinic and this has now been established and the
following report by Dr. Howell skives an account of part of the work.
During the year 133 women attended the ordinary ante-natal
clinic apart from those who were sent up to the consultation clinic.
All but 2 of these mothers intended entering Park Royal Hospital
for the confinement, and one of these we persuaded to enter the hospital
as there was an abnormality present which we felt could be more safelydealt
with in an institution than in the home.
75 cases attended the consultation clinic and all were admitted
to Park Royal. In addition 3 complicated cases of pregnancy were
referred to the Acton Hospital and treated there.
The extra ante-natal clinic has given us far more time for general
care and education of expectant mothers.
We have urged the treatment of some of the minor discomforts
of pregnancy such as vomitting and constipation which are the bugbear
of so many of the mothers.
Mothers are encouraged to come back to us in the post-natal
period and many are making use of this opportunity.
Far more dental treatment of the expec tant mother has been done
during this year and every mother who needed it has boen urged to have
dental attention either at the clinic or from her own dentist.
We have been amazed at the number of cases in which dental
treatment was urgently needed. Of the 133 women who attended
the ordinary clinic 47 were badly in need of treatment and wore referred
to our own dental surgeon.
In several cases there was so much sepsis present in the mouth
that practically all the teeth required extraction before we considered
it safe for the woman to be confined in an institution. Altogether
35.3% of the mothers were in very great need of dental treatment and
their average age was 26 years.
In dealing with this class we wonder whether more could not he
done for these patients at an earlier age. A11 of them have passed
through the school medical service, many of them too as children through
the welfare clinic, yet there is a delusive belief that these mothers' can
learn in their few visits to the ante-natal clinic what they failed to
learn during their educational period at school.
The hope of the future generation does not rest solely ori the work
done at the ante-natal clinic but on the continuity of care, and education
in health matters from the child welfare centres and throughout
school life.