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of the younger children who most usually attend. The parents
who attend are informed of the treatment required; if they
wish their child to be treated by their private practitioner
they are advised to make the necessary visit without delay,
or, if they desire the treatment to be undertaken at the
clinic, they are invited to sign the consent form. The details
of treatment required are recorded at the time of inspection,
and are indicated on the consent form that is sent to the
parents of each child requiring treatment.
Treatment appointments are sent to all who desire treatment
at the clinic as soon as possible after the return of the
consent form appropriately signed.
Treatment is carried out at Bourchier House, Oak Lane,
where the children attend by appointment at quarter hourly
intervals.
As far as is practicable all fillings are completed for the
child before any necessary extractions are made. This course
is adopted because experience has shown that in many cases
where extractions have been made on the first visit, the child
does not return to have the saveable teeth filled. Thus, the
latter policy, lends itself to the loss of would-be saveable
teeth.
Treatment of a conservative nature is aimed at, greatest
stress being laid on the permanent dentition, and every effort
is made to discover defects at their earliest manifestation.
This inevitably makes the number referred for treatment
correspondingly high and in 1937 was 79% of those inspected.
That such a policy is a sound one may be ascertained from
the number of teeth that were saved. The ratio of extractions
to fillings in permanent teeth in Finchley for the year under
review is 1 :6.7, whereas the average ratio for all areas (1936
figures) is 1:2.1. The figures include extractions for irregularities.
No regulation by appliance is undertaken at the clinic.
Where, however, the irregularity is caused or threatened by
overcrowding, the condition is relieved by extraction, and
many good results are obtained in this way. There are,
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