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SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
The School Dental Service has the following functions:-
1. The routine dental inspection of children at school.
2. Ensuring that any necessary dental treatment is received, either from
the Council's own dentists or by attendance at a private dentist.
3. Dental Health Education.
Dental sessions are held at 13 of the Council's clinics.
The establishment of dental staff includes 14 dental officers and 18 surgery
assistants. For the major part of the year the actual number of officers in employment
was the full time equivalent 10.4 dental officers and 13.4 surgery assistants. This
is a more satisfactory picture than is usually presented and is reflected in the
figures given below for dental inspection and treatment. However, the uncertainty
of maintaining a sufficiently high level of staffing makes the provision of a stable
service extremely difficult. Patients and parents not unnaturally much prefer continuity,
and expect to see the same dental surgeon regularly. The most successful clinics
in the Borough are those where this has been the case. It was, therefore, disappointing
to receive the resignation of two of our dental officers at the end of the year. This
in no way reflects on the facilities and working conditions we are able to offer our
dental staff, since these are in general of a high order, but is the result of being in
a very competitive market. National salary scales for local authority dentists are
ungenerous in relation to the rewards in private practice and as long as this
continues to be the case recruitment will be difficult.
Dental Inspection
The figures for dental inspection during the year were as follows:-
Routine dental inspections during 1966 83% of school population
Found to require treatment 62%
Sessions devoted to inspection 4.7%
This is a markedly higher percentage of pupils inspected compared with last
year when the figure was 66%.
Dental Treatment
The figures for dental treatment during the year were:-
Total visits to clincs 28,854
Teeth filled 22,264
Teeth extracted 6,127
General anaesthetics 2,548
Emergencies 1,386
Sessions devoted to treatment 3,651
Dental Health Education
During the year a dental auxiliary from the New Cross School began work at
Ravenor Park Clinic where she undertakes a limited range of treatment under strict
dental supervision. Equally, if not more important is her health education work for
which she has been specially trained. The experiment so far has been very successful,
and she has given talks and film shows on dental care to children at school and
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