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SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
Dental treatment assists in the general wellbeing of the body by removing conditions which
assist in the preparation of the ground for new diseases. Also mastication is brought to a higher
degree of efficiency at a time of optimum nutrition and so helps in the general health of the
expectant and nursing mother. Dentistry, therefore, takes its share of reducing the infant and
maternal mortality rate. During childhood when growth makes great demands upon the body, it is
essential that the children should have good teeth to help obtain maximum benefit from their foods.
The filling of the teeth greatly assists in keeping the masticatory powers of the body and it is
essential to see that the filling:extraction ratio is kept in the proper proportions.
Orthodontic treatment, apart from restoring a more pleasing appearance to the patient, also
plays a very important role in providing a more regular surface for the cleansing of the teeth.
With irregular teeth the gum conditions can soon deteriorate and the focal point of many diseases
resides in the pockets produced by such conditions. With this thought in mind it will be appreciated
that time spent at the chairside talking to the patients about dental hygiene is time well
spent and the result of such talks can save hours of chairside work on the patient later on.
Following an announcement by the British Oxygen Company that they would no longer
service the older types of Walten Gas Apparatus, it was decided that four older type gas and
oxygen machines would be replaced by more modern apparatus. In 1967 these new machines
were placed in the Hendon Central Dental Clinic, Childs Hill Dental Clinic, the Oak Lane Dental
and the Watling Dental Clinic. This action means that each dental surgery is equipped with an
anaesthetic apparatus of the later type models. One outstanding feature of these machines is that
they are supplied with pin index fittings which take the new type of pin index cylinders. As the
position of Nitrous Oxide and oxygen pin index locators are entirely different from each other
there is absolutely no risk of placing the wrong cylinders to the appropriate part of the machine.
A new air motor (high speed drill) was installed at Oak Lane Dental Clinic to replace an
obsolete model which had broken down. At Childs Hill Clinic a new X-ray unit was installed with
a special developing apparatus as there is no dark room. This has resulted in the children of that
area being able to have their X-rays done on the premises, instead of travelling to the Hendon
Central Dental Clinic.
A new spot light was installed in the Orthodonitc Clinic at Hendon Central. This has meant
that there is greater illumination inside the mouth to aid in the fixed orthodontic work.
At Brunswick Park Road Clinic, Holly Park Clinic and East Barnet Road Clinic modern
operating lights have been fitted, resulting in a far lighter field of work.
With a school population of some 40,000 children, it is not surprising that a small proportion
of them have damaged front teeth of one form or another. If only ½% of these children had a
damaged incisor tooth, it would mean about 200 cases per year. The need to supply these
children with a suitable service to restore as many of these teeth as possible made necessary
a surgery devoted exclusively to this work. During 1967 a regular session was devoted to crowns
and this will have to be increased to at least two sessions in 1968. The reasons for the incisor
teeth needing this treatment are varied, the most common cause being the broken front tooth as a
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