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27
report of school dental surgeon.
To the School Medical Officer.
I beg to present my report for the year ended December 31st,
1925.
The whole of the schools in the area were visited during the
year, and children in the various age groups inspected. It was
found that from a total of 6,765 children inspected, 4,700, or
69.17 per cent., were found to require treatment, and of these
2,I6I, or 52.36 per cent., made 3,211 attendances for treatment.
The latter figure compares favourably with that of 38.69 per cent.
for 1924, and is due among other reasons to the " following up "
of cases by the Denial Nurse who, since her appointment in
April, 1 925, made 1,291 primary and 298 secondary home visits.
There is, however, still a considerable amount of prejudice to be
broken down before ideal conditions can be established, a fact
now recognised by the Dental Board of the United Kingdom who
propose a widespread campaign of Dental Health propaganda
during 1926, in order to impress the importance of the care of
the teeth upon the population generally, and especially upon
parents of children attending elementary schools, only 55 per
cent of whom accepted treatment for their children throughout
the British Isles in 1924.
An encouraging feature of the year was the sale of 1,152
tooth-brushes at cost price, and the free distribution of samples
of tooth-paste and literature. This indicates an enlightenment
of many parents on the need of the prevention of dental disease,
and should result in effects even more encouraging than those of
actual treatment.
It will be noticed with regard to treatment at the Dental
Clinic, that an increase of permanent as opposed to temporary
fillings has been undertaken. This has been done with the object
of saving as many of the all-important permanent teeth as
Possible rather than patching up temporary teeth, a process now
regarded as unsatisfactory by many of the best authorities. A
decrease in the number of general anaesthetics and a consequent
increase in the number of local anæsthetics given will be noted