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273
The complement of the staff is the same as in 1934. The
appointment of a third assistant dental officer has been sanctioned
by the Education Committee. This new appointment will
materially help to reduce the congestion of treatments and enable
a greater number of children to be inspected.
The number of children attending the public elementary schools
is 26,391; therefore, each dental officer has approximately 9,000
children allotted to him for inspection and treatment. This number
is considerably more than one dental officer can cope with, and
consequently it has been impossible to inspect all the children once
during the year. The appointment of a third assistant dental officer
will reduce the number per dental officer to about 6,500, which,
although still more than each dentist should supervise, will, nevertheless,
enable the school dental officers to make a larger contribution
to the health of the school child.
Inspection.
The actual number of children inspected was 15,046, approximately
60 per cent. of the total school roll. Once again the congestion
of treatment has prevented more sessions being set apart
for inspection. Sessions devoted to inspection totalled 83, and 181
children were inspected per session. The reason for the drop in
the number of children inspected and actually treated is because
so many children have required several attendances to complete
treatment. Although the number of children actually treated is
smaller the volume of conservative treatment is greater. When
inspections are held at intervals of eighteen months the amount of
work to be done for those needing treatment is often considerable
and more sessions have to be set apart to complete the treatments,
and, therefore, there are fewer sessions available for further inspections
and treatments. The total number referred with dental
defects was 10,450, i.e., 69 per cent., compared with 72 per cent.
in 1934. This is a welcome reduction in the incidence of dental
disease, and it may be that the present method adopted in reducing
the inspections to a more reasonable number, so that the dental
officers can carry out earlier and more thorough treatment, is
achieving its purpose.