London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Croydon 1931
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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277
There is a gradual increase in the number of promises to
obtain private treatment, but, unfortunately, in the majority of
cases this is evasion. Some parents obtain complete treatment,
but in most instances just a few temporary teeth are extracted
and other teeth needing attention are left, until the children complain
of pain, when the parents bring them up as " Specials."
Special Cases.
1,840 "special" cases were treated in addition to routine children.
These comprised (a) cases requiring treatment prior to the
operation for the removal of tonsils and adenoids, (b) cases referred
by the School Medical Officers, (c) cases referred by the Tuberculosis
Officer, (d) "casuals" referred by head teachers as needing
treatment for acute conditions; the latter group and many of (a)
being chiefly those who had previously refused treatment.
A portion of two sessions per week—9-10 o'clock Mondays,
2-3 o'clock Wednesdays—is set apart for treating head teachers'
special cases. There were 181 such sessions and 1,840 cases
attended, compared with 199 and 1,891 for 1930.
Full details of sessions and treatment are set out in the Board of Education Table at the end of the Report, while a summary given below is for the purpose of comparison with previous Years :
| 1926. | 1927. | 1928. | 1929. | 1930. | 1931. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of new cases per session | 8.3 | 8.7 | 8.9 | 9.2 | 7.9 | 7.4 |
| Attendances per session | 11.9 | 13.3 | 13.8 | 14.0 | 12.6 | 12.1 |
| Fillings | 5.7 | 5.2 | 6.1 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.1 |
| Extractions | 13.5 | 14.2 | 13.1 | 14.9 | 13.7 | 12.4 |
| Other operations | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Gas cases during the year | 1495 | 1894 | 1638 | 1791 | 2395 | 2605 |
| Local anaesthetics | - | - | - | - | - | 1638 |
| 1927. | 1928. | 1929. | 1930. | 1931. | ||
| Permanent teeth extracted | ... | 1039 | 1020 | 1279 | 2001 | 2689 |
| Permanent teeth filled | ... | 1653 | 2406 | 1926 | 2769 | 3228 |
| Ratio of fillings to extractions | ... | 1 :0.6 | 1 :0.4 | 1 :0.6 | 1 :0.7 | 1 :0.8 |
| Temporary teeth extracted | ... | 8013 | 8101 | 9081 | 12105 | 10800 |
| Temporary teeth filled | ... | 1702 | 1829 | 1326 | 1732 | 1254 |
| Ratio of fillings to extractions | ... | 1 :4.7 | 1 :4.4 | 1 :6.8 | 1 :6.9 | 1 :8.6 |
As noted last year, too much time is devoted to the extraction
of teeth rather than to filling, i.e., saving teeth. During the past
year this has been due to the inclusion of a large number of