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under consideration 56 children were treated, 32 being operated
on for enlarged tonsils, 5 for adenoids and. 19 for enlarged tonsils
and adenoids .
(d) 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 43, that dealing
with mothers and pre-school children on page 14, while the section
giving a description of the work among elementary school children
follows:—
"The Dental Inspection and Treatment of Elementary
School Children in 1939.
"Dental inspections were carried out in nearly all the schools
in the Borough during the year. Because of the dislocation of
work and the closure of schools due to the outbreak of war it was
not possible to treat all the children by the end of the year. It was
found at the schools inspected that 7,201 children required treatment
out of a total of 13,388 seen at the schools and at the Health Centres.
This figure for treatment is 2,556 less than in the preceding year.
The number of children actually treated totalled 6,217, which figure
is 686 less than in 1938. The form of treatment given is chiefly
conservative in character for children above eight years of age,
but below this age extractions of the carious temporary teeth is
the form of treatment generally required. Orthodontic appliances
were supplied to suitable cases during the year, and since 1937,
when this form of treatment was first commenced, 73 children have
been fitted with plates. The number of fillings inserted in all teeth
amounted to 4,945, this figure being smaller by 1,157 than in the
preceding year. Extractions were performed under nitrous oxide
and oxygen for the younger children, but in a number of older
children local anaesthesia was employed. Altogether, 1,571
permanent teeth were removed and 8.529 temporary, making a
total of 10,100 extractions. Other operations included 1,051
dressings to exposed pulp, scaling was done for 110 children,
3 children had gum treatment for acute gingivitis, and 531 adjustments
were made to orthodontic appliances during the year. At
the special inspection of leavers held during the year, it was found