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of age in this country, and this a fact which comes as no suprise
when we are told that we consumed 614,000 tons of sweets during
the year, equivalent to 251bs. of sweets for every man, woman
and child. The only proven preventive measure that can be taken
to help reduce the incidence of dental decay is the national
fluoridation of the public water supply. Although a few areas
of the country enjoy this benefit now, it seems that it will still
be many years before a fluoridated water supply becomes a
practical reality for everyone.
Assuming that our national eating habits are not going to
suddenly change, then we must accept that dental decay is
going to be with us for a long time to come. If a sufficiently
large number of dental surgeons could be recruited, whose sole
purpose was to treat the school and pre-school population of the
country, and so be in a position to arrest decay in its early
stages and to instil the importance of healthy teeth into young
minds, then the national bill of some £100,000,000 which dental
disease costs this country each year could certainly be drastically
reduced.
Inspections
Due to staff shortage and the closure of clinic premises
for rebuilding, it was not possible to inspect as many children
as in the previous year.
Whenever schools have been inspected, every effort is made
to keep this a regular annual occurrence, and at the same time
make available, treatment for those children found to require
its When schools are being re-visited and records compared with
previous inspections it is noticed that there is one factor common
to all. Each school contains a percentage of children where
treatment has been found necessary, the parents have been
duly notified that this can be obtained either through the General
Dental Service or from the School Dental Service, but nothing
has been done about it. Efforts have been made at these reinspections,
with the co-operation and help of Head Teachers, to
point out to the parents concerned the facilities available for
free treatment, but it seems there will always be some parents
who make no effort to see that their children obtain the necessary
treatment. The end result of this neglect is often a frantic visit
to the dentist with a child in great pain with toothache. Emergency
visits of this kind rose by 100 during the year to a total of 517
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