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269
It is gratifying to see that, with the exception of the 14-yearold
girls' group, the Leavers have a higher percentage of sound
dentitions than in the previous year.
If children would only view a good dental report with the
same satisfaction as they do a favourable school report, and take
pride in having healthy teeth, the percentage of sound dentitions
would undoubtedly be greater than it is at present.
Inspection.
The annual inspection of school children is essential, so that
all defects may be recorded. Even so, children may be found at
one inspection to have a sound dentition and at the next to have
one or more teeth so diseased that extraction is sometimes the
only treatment.
There appear to be three periods in a child's school career
when caries is particularly active, namely, at 6, 9 and 12 years.
These ages correspond to the time when the teeth usually erupt
in pairs. As a preventive measure dental inspections should be
carried out twice yearly. A compromise, however, can be
effected by inspecting all the age groups annually, and the 6, 9
and 12-year-old groups twice a year. With such a method it
would be possible to diagnose early defects and thus reduce the
number of extractions of permanent teeth to a very low figure.
Unfortunately, this cannot be done at present.
The number of sessions devoted to inspection totalled 109,
which is 13 fewer than in 1932. The number of children
examined was 18,087, compared with 18,977 in the previous year.
The average number of childrern inspected each session was 16G.
Obvious defects only are noted at the routine dental inspections,
and when the child is called up for treatment a more thorough
examination is carried out at the Clinic. A very careful examination
is made of those children at routine inspections who show
evidence of sound dentitions.
Treatment.
Full details of sessions and treatment are set out in the
Hoard of Education Table at the end of the Report, while a