View report page

21
There are unhappily a few patients who cannot be treated by conventional
methods, and therefore one session is held at Lodge Road every four weeks to
conserve under general anaesthesia the teeth of such patients. This extension
of the service enables a wider range of patients to receive proper dental care.
All except 25 school departments (18.4% of the total) were inspected
during the year, resulting in 35,787 children (64.7%) being examined at school.
Moreover a further 7,179 were examined in the various clinics, bringing the
total percentage of the school population examined during the year to 80%.
There was a further increase in the number of children requiring some form of
treatment, 54.7% compared with 48.9% last year and 45.6% in 1969, again
underlining the problems facing the treatment services.
Another serious problem facing Croydon, in common with all other
Authorities, is that of the high numbers of failed appointments. This year the
position is a little better, 22.7% of all appointments not kept, compared with
24.4% last year and 24.2% in 1969. Over one third were last minute cancellations
and many of those who failed made fresh appointments, but a failure
rate of these proportions cannot be tolerated and represents a severe drain
both in terms of time and money, especially when the demand for treatment is
so high.
Dental Health Education
Much work has been done in this field during the year especially by the
Dental Auxiliaries. We have had the active co-operation of Miss Elliott and
her staff in the Health Education Department, and the student Hygienists from
the Royal Dental Hospital have continued their visits to junior and infant
classes to the benefit of all concerned. Dental health education is difficult to
assess in terms of firm results, but any method of bringing home to children
and their parents the damage that is done to the dentition by neglect and incorrect
diet, and advice on the proper care and maintenance of the teeth is
bound to have beneficial long term effects.
Dental statistics will be found on Page 59.
ENURESIS CLINICS
I am grateful to Dr. Margaret White for the following report:—
During 1971 the three Enuresis Clinics in the Borough have treated 271
children, their ages varying from 5 to 15. This year, as has been usual until
'ast year, the largest number belonged to the six year old age group. The fact
that buzzers are now readily available has made the work of the Clinic much
smoother, and the effect of this can be seen in the figures - 133 children using
the buzzer in 1971, compared with 90 in 1970.
The numbers attending at the Purley Clinic were slightly down but those
attending at New Addington were slightly up.