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On the credit side, the official letter noted with satisfaction that
the output of work at treatment sessions has increased by 48%
since 1969 and is now above the national average.
A figure that would be of greater interest if it were possible to
obtain would be the amount of treatment prevented by the efforts
of dentists and dental health educators. Astatement made in the
first of these dental reports for Havering in 1965 that "prevention
must be the key-word of the Local Authority dental service" is
as relevant now as ever.
Fluoridation
The subject of fluoridation of the public water supply is one that
has been included in almost every annual report since the inception
of the Borough. In all these years no progress has been made
towards achieving implementation of what is generally recognised
as a safe and well-proven public health measure which would
substantially reduce the prevalence of dental decay.
The matter was again considered by the Council during the year
as a result of a request from the National Health Service Executive
Council for North East London. As a result of a full report
of the facts placed before them, the Housing and Health Services
Committee recommended that the Council should declare themselves
in favour of the principle of the addition of fluoride to the
local public water supply. When the subject came before Council
for consideration, the principle was rejected without discussion.
For the writer of this report, this was a particularly disheartening
decision. With a known shortage of dentists, and an increasing
child population, surely serious consideration should be accorded
to a sound and proven preventive measure.
Any amount of dental health promotion and local preventive treatments
pale into insignificance when compared to the benefits that
adjustment of the fluoride content of the water from its present
level of .25 parts per million to 1 part per million would bring in
a few years' time to the child population of the Borough.
Dental Health Education
The programme of dental health education introduced last year for
new entrants to Primary schools continued in 1971 and again all
Primary schools in the Borough indicated a wish to be included
In addition to the showing of a film and demonstration, each child
who had started school in the past year received a free dental
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