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109
During the year there has been a marked improvement in
the co-operation obtained from parents of children suffering from
squint. The Clinic has been supplied with extra apparatus for the
investigation of cases of squint and muscle balance, and all children
attending have their muscle balance checked both before and after
refraction. Children suffering from defects of this kind, attend on
the average once a month. This record of their progress makes
it possible to discover those cases in which the "home treatment"
is not being adequately carried out and serves to maintain the
parents' interest in the progress made by their children.
In the period covered by this report, no case of ocular disease
due to undernourishment or bad living conditions was observed.'
A few cases of congenital defect and diseases either transmissable
or hereditary are under treatment or observation.
SCHOOL DENTAL REPORT.
The work of the Dental Department in 1936 had to be reorganised
and extra assistance called for to as great an extent as
the present premises and accommodation would allow. It was found
with the increased work resulting from the exanunation and treatment
of the Junior Technical and County Schoo's and the growing
use of the department by the Child Welfare Clinics, that the unavoidable
delay which arose before treatment could be undertaken,
was in danger of rendering the service inefficient. If such a period
has to be spent on the waiting list that when the patient comes
up for treatment it is too late for conservative measures, and extraction
has to be resorted to, the aims of the service are being
defeated and the patients are not receiving the attention they should
Conservative work naturally takes much more time, but a realisation
of its importance has caused the request for assistance in this
branch of the work for three half-days per week. As stated before,
the present accommodation does not allow of more help but it is
felt that considerably more assistance will be necessary is future
to render the service 100% efficient.
Use continues to be made of the department by expectant
and nursing mothers, and this year the number of dentures fitted
for mothers from the Child Welfare Centres has risen from 19 to
34, each of these representing several ordinary appointments.
The number of extractions in 1936 is rather less than in
1935, but this is explained by the fact that a tremendous drive took
place at the end of 1935 to clear off a long waiting list, the extra