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of the Board should examine in the area a representative selection of
children who were nearing the end of their elementary school life,
that is to say, about the age of 13 years. It was felt that such an
inspection would serve to show the dental condition of children who
had never had any facilities for receiving school dental treatment,
and that it would provide a useful reminder of what conditions
might be in the country generally were it not for the work of the
school dental service.
It was found possible to carry out a detailed inspection
of 150 children, who were all asked whether they had ever been
to a dentist; 112 said "Yes," 38 said "No." Only 13 of the
children said they had attended a dentist for fillings. It was
found on examination that a total of 103 permanent teeth
had been extracted, whilst 15 had been filled.
At this age (13) the number of temporary teeth still present
in the mouths of the children was negligible. As for the permanent
teeth, 257 were carious to such an extent as to be
unsaveable, whilst carious but saveable permanent teeth
numbered 642. The total number of permanent teeth lost,
saveable and unsaveable, was therefore 1,002, which is equivalent
to an average of 6-7 teeth per child. Of even more interest,
perhaps, is the distribution of these teeth amongst the 150
children, which is shown in a subsequent table. These figures
provide a somewhat melancholy picture of the ravages of dental
disease, but there is no reason to suppose that the incidence of
caries is substantially greater in Falmouth than in other parts
of the country.
Having thus obtained figures relating to an area unprovided
with a school dental service, it became clear that an interesting
comparison could be made with statistics from a district possessing
a well established and efficient dental scheme.
An officer of the Board therefore carried out a survey of
the dental condition of 150 children at Beckenham, the age
group being similar to that inspected at Falmouth. Eight
children had naturally sound permanent dentitions, one had
attended a private dentist, and in the case of one treatment
had been persistently refused. The others had received attention
at the clinic, but 14 of these had on one or more occasions
declined conservative measures ; 138 permanent teeth had been
lost, 21 were so carious as to be unsaveable, 181 were carious
but saveable, and 553 had been filled. The number of permanent
teeth lost, saveable and unsaveable, was thus 340, or an average
of 2-3 per child. To some extent factors other than caries,
such as extractions for orthodontic purposes, enter into the
question of the loss of permanent teeth at Beckenham, but
these do not invalidate the findings generally."
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