View report page

38
SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE:
The number of children on the school registers showed a
marked increase in the course of the year, 13,668 children
being on roll in February compared with over 15,000 by the
end of the year. The allocation of approximately 3,000
children to each dental officer applying in 1945 was therefore
again reverted to in the latter part of the year despite the
increase of staff from four and a half to five full time dental
officers.
The raising of the school leaving age in 1948 will further
increase the proportion of children to dental staff, and 1949
will mark the commencement of a phase showing the repercussions
on the school population of recent increases in the
birth-rate.
The number of children receiving routine dental inspection
in the schools, was approximately the same as in 1945,
but the number of special inspections increased from 1,532 to
3,313. The schools receiving routine inspection in 1946 were,
in the main, last inspected in 1944, and it is important to note
that the ratio of permanent teeth extracted because of disease
to permanent fillings performed was approximately 1 to 10 in
both 1945 and 1946, an indication that the improved state of
dental health in school children and the lessening in rapidity
of dental decay is being maintained. Reference has been
made to this improvement in reports since 1944 with suggestions
as to the primary reasons, and a more detailed summary
of conclusions should be possible at the end of 194(7. The
number of fillings in permanent and temporary teeth showed
an increase of approximately 2,000 over 1945, and the acceptance
rate for treatment following routine dental inspections
was 88%, denoting a steadily increasing demand on the part
of parents for a conservative dental service for their children.
Some amplification of Ministry of Education Table IV is
desirable in a scheme of these dimensions and the following
table provides evidence of the wide scope of treatment undertaken
by the dental staff:—