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3. Dental Health Education.
Dental sessions are held at 13 of the Council's clinics.
The establishment of dental staff is 14 dental officers. At the end of the year a full time equivalent
of 8. 9/10ths dental officers was employed. This is fractionally lower than that shown in the 1967 report.
As in previous years, there has been a difficulty in recruiting adequate numbers of dental officers. This
has been especially marked in the Northolt part of the borough and is presumably due to communication
difficulties. Lack of stability and continuity in the service does, more than any other factor, cause
parents and patients to seek treatment elsewhere and even to make no arrangements at all.
Dental Inspections
The figures for dental inspection during the year were as follows:-
Routine dental inspections during 1968 49.8% of school pop.
Found to require treatment 50.7%
Sessions devoted to inspection 4.1%
The percentage of pupils inspected last year was 56. 2%.
Dental Treatment
The figures for dental treatment during the year were:-
Total visits to clincis 23,221
Teeth filled 16,700
Teeth extracted 5,749
General anaesthetics 2,543
Emergeneies 1,412
Sessions devoted to treatment 3,526
Specialist orthodontic treatment for "straightening" the teeth (overcrowding, malformation of jaws
and teeth, etc.) is available at four of the dental clinics, and in parts of the Borough private practitioners
also like to refer children for the opinion of our orthodontists. The selection of patients who will maintain
the proper degree of interest and co-operation over a period of two years or more is vital as the treatment
is quite expensive of time and material. "Wastage" of patients, usually through declining interest and
lack of co-operation in wearing their appliances, is less than 2%, which is well below figures quoted in
other parts of the country.
In 1948 the Ministry of Education started a quinquennial survey of dental caries in 5 to 12 year old
children in seven local authorities. Southall was one of the areas which was concerned in the Middlesex
part of the survey, and at each survey since that date Miss Cameron has been the dental officer who has
carried out the survey here, and she has continued with the survey in 1968. A review of the results will be
in the next edition of the Health of the Schoolchild.
42.