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the former in giving regular talks to the mothers regarding their
own and their children's health and the latter in giving valuable
instruction and guidance to the mothers in the making and use
of suitable garments for the mothers themselves or their children.
The Welfare Working Party also performs valuable services in
knitting suitable garments for babies and young children to be
sold at cost price or given free of charge to those who are in necessitous
circumstances, and gratitude must be expressed to them for
their continued assistance.
DENTAL TREATMENT OF EXPECTANT AND
NURSING MOTHERS.
Dental treatment for expectant and nursing mothers was
begun five years ago. Great difficulty was experienced in persuading
mothers to undergo the necessary treatment and very
few were treated during the first three years. As a result of
educative work and also as a result of pressure on the part of the
medical officers, who have it in their power to refuse to accept
applications for admission to the maternity hospital if the mothers
do not act on their advice, more are accepting treatment. In
the first year of treatment 36 mothers were dealt with, in the
next two years 73 and 87 respectively, in 1930 there were 149 and
in 1931 no fewer than 270. The mouths of most of these mothers
were in an appalling condition with extensive caries and severe
sepsis of the gums. Treatment of such conditions must make
for not only safety for the mother at her confinement and better
health of the baby but greatly improved health of the mother
afterwards. Only a nominal charge is made for extractions,
scaling and filling of the teeth, and payment for artificial dentures
is requested according to the family income. Unfortunately for
some of the mothers, after extractions have been carried out, their
husbands selfishly put every step in the way of their receiving
their artificial dentures by refusing to pay anything towards their
cost even though they are in a position to make some contribution.
In the year under review, of the 270 mothers dentally treated,
203 were expectant and 67 nursing. The number of attendances
of these mothers for dental treatment amounted to 1,026.