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158
by the prospective mother; a diet rich in bone making and protective
elements. Such a diet is available to the poorest, certainly
to all people of Barking, and advice on such selected foods is given,
the simplest and most easily procurable foods being recommended.
Most domestic dietaries contain them, but, unfortunately, their
more frequent use is hindered by prepared foods made more
palatable or easier of preparation but lacking in food value.
Eggs, milk, butter, cheese, herrings, sprats, vitaminised
margarine for those who cannot afford butter, liver, carrots, tomatoes,
watercress, are all of excellent vitamin A and D value, and could
be assisted by fish roes and cod liver oil.
It is interesting to notice the improvement in the hardness
of decayed areas in the teeth of under-age children treated at this
clinic when put on cod liver oil for six months, and in this respect
it is quite proper to regard the administration of vitamin D not
only as a preventive but as a cure in cases not too far advanced.
Parents should also realise that the dreaded pyorrhoea of adult
life is a deficiency disease contracted in childhood and manifested in
later life, and its prevention can be effected by a diet rich in vitamin
A. From the very spare list given above of food of sound dietetic
value it seems that dental disease should prove a rapidly decreasing
disease, but it is a matter that needs broadcasting to the people of
Barking as much as other places if the present dental condition
of young mothers and young children is to be accepted as a criterion
of the dental-mindedness of the population.
My thanks are again due to the Medical, Nursing, Visiting and
Teaching Staffs for their excellent co-operation and propaganda
work during the year, work which has proved itself by the considerably
lessened number of refusals and by the increasing number
who favourably reconsider a first refusal.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
W. H. FOY, L.D.S., R.C.S. (Eng.),
Public Dental Officer.
Barking Town Urban District Council.