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52
Medical Treatment.
dentally inspected. The ages varied from 5 to 14 years
of age, the greatest number inspected being at the
ages of 6 and 7 years, although at 5 years 349 came
within the purview of the dentists. Of this total number
of children inspected 2,257 were referred for treatment.
At the School Clinic 645 of these children were treated
for the first time and 822 were treated as a result of
periodical re-examination after treatment previously
given.
In the scheme of dental treatment all children on
admission to school are inpsected and defective conditions
are referred for treatment. If treatment at
the School Clinic is accepted, the child is inspected in
each subsequent year, any defects being treated as
they occur. In this way every child is given the opportunity
of obtaining thorough dental supervision and
treatment throughout its school career. As a result
of this yearly supervision one can look with satisfaction
at a large proportion of children who leave school
with sound dentures. As already noted, the percentage
of children in the age 12 or " leaver " group for 1921
with sound teeth is as high as 76.5 per cent., a high testimony
to the scheme, and to the advantage taken of it
by the children.
In Table IV. D.2 is given a summary of the actual
dental work done at the Clinic. It will be seen that
only 255 permanent teeth were extracted as against
1,270 filled, and that 2,758 temporary teeth were
extracted as against 130 filled. The large number of
administrations under gas—337—is notable.
It has been found that when the children are inspected
for the first time, many show a large number
of carious and septic temporary teeth which demand