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An encouraging feature of the year's figures is the increased
number of children completing their courses of treatment
and being rendered dentally fit
There wasa sliahtdrop in the number of treatment sessions
worked during the year and in addition to staff fluctuations, this
was to some extent attributable to the lengthy period of power
strikes in the earlypart of theyear which disrupted surgery work
The treatment pattern continues to place a strong emphasis
on conservation In the permanent dentition, 13 teeth were filled
for every tooth extracted, and if those teeth that were extracted
for solely orthodontic reasons are excluded, this ratio climbs to
17:1
As the Borough Council has decided against the principle
of water fluoridation, it has been necessary to consider the
various proven topical measures of applying fluoride to the tooth
surfaces in order to increase resistance to caries. All patients
are recommended to use a toothpaste containing fluoride, but
self-application apart, other measures are all expensive in terms
of professional time Without ancillary help, cases need to be
carefully assessed for future benfit The method adopted for
selected caries-prone children was the application of a fluroide
gel using preformed trays
3 Dental Health Survey
In order to build up a picture of the overall state of dental
health in school children in the Borough it was decided to carry
out a survey in conjunction with the routine school dental inspections
Information is to becollected from three age groups initially
— 5 years, 8 years and 11 year olds —in line with principles laid
down by the World Health Organisation for dental surveys, and
their recommended criteria used A decayed and filled (df) count
is made for all 5 year olds and a decayed, missing and filled
(DMF) count for the 8 4- 11 year age groups The survey commenced
in the autumn term and is intended to be an on-going
surveywith the results of the firstyear of examinations providing
a base-line for the future The resultswill be of use in evaluating
future dental health programmes
4 Dental Health Education
The dental health programme for new school entrants entered
its third year during 1972 with a concentrated schedule of visits
to Primary Schools in the Borough
A new seven-minute film specially made for 3 — 6 year
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