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Staffing
Mr. Robinson left us in January 1954, but we were fortunate
in securing Mr. Pitts to replace him, together with the services of
a further full-time dental officer—Mr. J. Buntin. A new clinic had
already been equipped for his use in the hutted buildings behind
the Town Hall. (This, incidentally, was the site of the original
Barking Dental Clinic before the erection of Central Clinic nearby.)
The functioning of an additional clinic in this area had long been
felt to be necessary in order to relieve the pressure on Central
Clinic's Dental Officer.
The dental staff now numbers five full-time officers as well as
their attendants; an oral hygienist, and a laboratory staff of six
(which includes two apprentices). The County authorities, however,
have not; yet seen fit to sanction the appointment of a Senior Dental
Officer to fill the gap caused by the transfer of Mr. Tran at the end
of 1952. Such an appointment, it is felt, could do much to increase
the admin trative efficiency on the dental side, as well as to relieve
the Divisional School Medical Officer of a certain degree of
responsibility for purely dental matters.
During the period under review the long negotiations of a
dental Whitley Council resulted in an increased national salary
scale for dental officers, bringing their remuneration to a figure
somewhat less remotely related than hitherto to that normally
earned by their colleagues in private practice. Recruiting to the
ranks of public dentistry is still lamentably slow, however, and
Barking must be considered extremely fortunate, in comparison
with some of her neighbouring boroughs, in the number of full-time
officers employed.
School Service
One or two interesting points emerge from the figures of work
carried out in 1954. The percentage of children who were found
to require treatment on routine examinations at school was 60,
as against 63% in 1953. Thus it can be said that a slight but definite
improvement in the dental health of Barking school children has
taken place This is more likely to be the result of previous treat-
went than due to an actual improved resistance to dental disease.
The actual number of children so examined shows an increase on
the previous year, but the figure is still only a little over half of the
total school population. This is the cause of the comparatively
large number of school children who present themselves for
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