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schools and offer treatment without delay.
Furthermore, In co-operation with the Health Education team of the County
Health Department, two Dental Exhibitions were arranged during the year in schools
at opposite ends of the Borough. Resulting from these, our dental attendances improved,
but I am afraid the importance of dental conservative treatment is still not
appreciated sufficiently by parents.
An increasing amount of orthodontic work is being carried out and this “Beauty
hutment” though somewhat protracted in order to get the best result, is amply
justified by the appreciation of both the children and parents alike. Our Dental
Workshop is equipped with the most modern equipment, and the four Senior Technicians
take a great pride in their work.
We no longer have an Oral Hygienist on our staff but I hope that in the future,
when there is a double dental surgery available, we may be fortunate enough to
attract a “Dental Auxiliary" to our staff.
The school for the training of dental auxiliaries commenced in September 1960
but as the numbers of girls trained for this Job are small, few districts have been
lucky enough to get them.
Their training lasts two years and on graduating they are put on the Register
of Dental Auxiliaries which is kept by the General Dental Council. They are now
capable of scaling and cleaning teeth, of doing uncomplicated fillings of temporary
and permanent teeth, extracting temporary teeth, undertaking dental health education
In schools, and so allow the School Dental Service to expand.
They work to the prescription of and under the supervision of a registered dentist
who must see the case on completion of the work.
School Nursing
Health Visitors continue their duties as school nurses in the 36 schools with a
total populations of 11,745 schoolchildren. The work entails close contact with the
children, their teachers and the parents, for many homes are visited at the request
of the school medical officers and head teachers to help parents on matters of their
children's health.
Health Visitors assist the doctors at school medical inspections and in the
vaccination and immunisation programmes in schools. They carry out the vision
testing of schoolchildren and conduct regular hygiene inspections in the schools.
VACCINATION AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS
Our B.C.G. vaccination scheme continued during 1962 and the gratifying total
of 869 tests undertaken by your doctors illustrates the co-operation of parents in
what is one of the major preventive measures against tuberculosis.
The Chest Physician and his staff at the Barking Hospital have assisted us in
all doubtful cases and their co-operation has been invaluable.
the statistics regarding this service are as follows:-
Number to whom offered 1,073
Number tuberculin tested after parents' consent had
been received 869
Positive result 91
Negative result 778
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