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THE HEALTH OF BARKING
Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic.
being done in your dental clinics. The annual report of the School Dental Service
is given elsewhere but some of the figures in respect of this service are repeated in
Table XIV, to give the overall picture in figures of your complete dental services.
Ear, Nose and Throat Service.
This is an important service, since an expert opinion is so often required upon
the tonsils and adenoids of children and because of the large number of children
who suffer from running ears.
In he past the tendency has been to remove tonsils and adenoids without
sufficient cause. Tonsils are normally enlarged during childhood because they
play a big part in building the body's defences against germs met with for the first
time in childhood. When that task is largely completed they shrink back to the
size normal for an older child or adult. On the whole the mothers attending your
clinics are still rather too anxious for this operation to be carried out in cases where
it is not desirable. On the other hand running ears are a serious condition leading
to deafness in many cases and may give rise to more serious infections. Yet mothers
are apt to treat them with less concern than they merit. Treatment must be
thorough and regular and persisted with until the ear is dry and for this the
enthusiastic aid of the mother is invaluable.
Statistics in relation to this service are given in Appendix B, Table VIII.
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