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62
Much of this development will depend upon the necessary
numbers of dental officers being obtainable, but at the present
time they are not coming forward in sufficient numbers adequately
to staff the public dental services as the majority of newly qualified
men and those released by the Army appear to wish to establish
themselves in private practice before the advent of the new Health
Service in July, 1948.
Routine Treatment of School Children.
Figures showing the amount of work carried out for these
children will be found in Table 4, page 74. Interesting points
to note in connection with them are :—
1. That the ratio of permanent fillings to extractions is
5.6 : 1.
2. That attendances for treatment average 1.5 per child
treated.
3. That the number of children inspected in a session
at school averages 150.
It will be seen that the number of children actually treated is
slightly greater than the number found to require treatment. This
is due to treatment carried out for children who had been inspected
in December of the previous year. The percentage acceptance rate
(76.39 per cent.) compares favourably with the last published rate
for the whole country (67.8 per cent.).
Orthodontics.
There is a growing demand for, and appreciation of, this work
by parents and children. In any understaffed dental scheme it is
essential to see that too many orthodontic cases are not undertaken
to the detriment of the routine conservation of children's permanent
teeth. Bearing this fact in mind, as many as possible were
treated along modern lines as taught in the Children's Department
of the teaching hospitals at the present time. The Authority's
Senior Dental Officer attended a Post-Graduate Course on the
subject at Guy's Hospital Dental School during the year under
review.