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83
(e) Dental Defects.—The report of Mr. C. Colenso, the Senior
Dental Surgeon, gives a survey of the work of dental inspection
and treatment during the year. For convenience, the report
is inserted in three places in the annual report, the section relating
to secondary school children appearing on page 94, that dealing
with mothers and pre-school children on page 27, while the section
giving a description of the work among elementary school children
follows.
"Dental Inspection and Treatment of Elementary School Children
during the year 1937."
"There was an increase in the number of school children
inspected and treated during the year. This increase was due
chiefly to the large new school on the Cuckoo Estate, and also to
new entrants to the schools in the Greenford and Perivale districts.
A total of 16,488 children were inspected by the dentists. This is
an increase of 1,954 over the preceding year. The number of
children who were found to require treatment at the inspections
totalled 10,150, an increase of 685 over the previous year. The
number of children who were not in need of any treatment at the
time of inspection was thus 6,338, or 38 per cent.
"The number of children actually treated by the dentists,
totalled 6,433, an increase of 466 over the preceding year. Owing
to the increased amount of time given to mothers and young children
at the Mattock Lane and Greenford Green Centres, appointments
could not be given to all the school children requiring treatment,
and it was therefore impossible to complete both inspection and
treatment of all the children before the end of the year.
"The work carried out was mainly of a radical nature,
elimination of sepsis being the first consideration. Fillings were
inserted in all saveable permanent teeth and also in small cavities
in the temporary teeth in young children. The number of fillings
inserted in permanent teeth amounted to 4,808. This is a large
reduction in comparison with the previous year when 6,421 fillings
were inserted. The reduction is mainly accounted for by the fact
that more permanent teeth were removed on account of advanced
decay and irregularities in dentition found in the children entering
the new schools on the Cuckoo Estate. There was an increase