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8,555. The number of children receiving treatment, and actually
completed was 6,105.
Those found to require treatment in the previous year totalled
8,905, and the number actually treated for the same year amounted
to 5,920; which represents an increase in the number treated,
and a decrease in the number found to require treatment for the
present year.
The number of attendances made at the centres for treatment
totalled 11,254.
The actual work involves the various forms of treatment
required to render the month sound and healthy. It includes :
fillings, extractions, gum treatment, orthodontic treatment, scaling,
dentures, crown and inlay work, and minor forms of surgery.
The number of permanent fillings inserted totalled 4,830.
This number is smaller by 194 than that obtained in the previous
year. The number of temporary teeth filled totalled 866, an
increase above this series of teeth filled in 1946 by 485. The efforts
of the dentists is to preserve the temporary teeth until they are
naturally lost, as early removal means that the permanent series
will possibly be irregular.
The number of permanent and temporary extractions amounted
to 1,499, and 4,489 respectively. The former is greater by 308,
and the latter figure is smaller by 2,036 to the figures given for the
previous year. The permanent extraction rate includes a large
number removed for orthodontic purposes, and it does not represent
the number of teeth that were extracted on account of extreme
decay and sepsis.
The number of sessions devoted to the work totalled 1,128½,
and the number of sessions given by the dentists for inspections
at the schools, amounted to 124½.
The work performed for other operations involved 4,231 items
of treatment. The most important of these operations being the
fitting of orthodontic appliances, and the subsequent adjustments
(which are many) that are required to complete this treatment,
and may take from six months, up to two years to finish.
The next important treatment under other operations is
treatment for different forms of gum infections. This again takes
a large number of visits to cure the condition, and the number of
children requiring this treatment is unfortunately increasing.
Many temporary teeth were saved by the use of silver nitrate
application, thereby increasing the total number of these teeth
that could be retained for a longer period in the gums. The figure
for this is in the total given for other operations.