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" During the year under review 13,741 children were inspected,
13,548 being examined at the routine inspections in the schools
and 193 being examined specially at the Health Centres. Table IV,
Group V, gives the numbers examined in each age-group, and other
statistics relating to the dental scheme. Of the 1,356 five-year-old
children examined 337, or 25 per cent., were found to have sound
mouths, a very small proportion, which unfortunately remains
about the same from year to year. Inspection revealed altogether
9,067 children, or 65.9 per cent., to be in need of dental treatment,
the total being nearly six hundred more than the preceding year
although the percentage remains exactly the same. The total
number of children actually treated was 5,396 involving 6,628
visits to the various Centres.
" Unfortunately the number of children who received treatment
is not as high as it might be. This is due to the increasing number
to be treated making it impossible for the dentist to keep up with
the work of treatment. The main congestion of work has occurred
at the Ravenor Park Centre where, at the end of the year, approximately
1,030 children were awaiting treatment, while at Cherington
House there were another five hundred children still to be dealt
with. Happily the work at the Mattock Lane Centre has remained
fairly constant and has been kept well in hand. It is apparent
therefore that some two hundred sessions have to be devoted to
clearing off the arrears of work which have accumulated.
" The number of children about to leave school who have been
found to have sound mouths is very satisfactory, yet with more
help there is no doubt that the number could be increased. Special
visits were made to the senior schools towards the end of each term
to inspect the teeth of the children shortly leaving school. The
children examined in this way totalled 1,370 and 1,034, or 75
per cent. of them were found to have sound mouths, either normally
sound, or rendered sound with dental treatment.
" The treatment carried out consists mainly of fillings and
extractions. Fillings in both the temporary and permanent
dentitions totalled 6,893; in the permanent teeth the fillings
numbered 6,357, and in temporary teeth the number was 536.
The total is less than the previous year by 162.