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290
Conservative Treatment for the Deciduous Dentition.
Although the number of fillings in deciduous teeth increased
from 399 to 923, it should not be deduced from such an increase
that the policy of the service in other years, of restricting the number
of conservative treatments to those teeth in which the prognosis
of completed work can be almost guaranteed, has been abandoned,
but rather that there has been a greater number of mothers who
sought treatment for their children during pie-school years and
desired the treatment to be continued. As these children had had
considerable treatment before commencing school the amount of
work to be-done was small, since the teeth had been kept in good
order through attendance at child welfare clinics. The mothers
who had exhibited such keenness in the dental welfare of their
children have been encouraged to write for six-monthly inspections
and it is as a result of these re-examinations that more fillings were
inserted in the temporary teeth as compared with the previous year.
The present difficulty of conservative treatment for the temporary
teeth of school entrants would be considerably diminished if
there was an adequate service of inspection and treatment for all
pre-chool) children. If such a service was given to all young
children, and provided there was a high acceptance rate on the part
of the parents it would be possible to insert many more satisfactory
fillings (because defects would be seen when small) and to extract
fewer teeth. The existence of such a service would not be a success
unless it was utilised to the full. There would have to be sixmonthly
inspections for all the children and continuity of treatment,
if required. A great argument in favour of nursery schools is that
they would provide an excellent opportunity for proper dental supervision
of young children.