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61
i.e. the Guillebaud Report of 1956 assume great importance. Among
the foremost of these were the following
1. The fluoridisation of water supplies.
2. Increased dental health education.
3. Increased research work into the causes and possible prevention
of dental disease.
4. More efficient dental services for the priority classes.
Unfortunately, 2 and 4 above depend in a large measure for their
success upon the engagement of sufficient dentists to bring the dental staff
up to establishment instead of, as it is in the Leyton area, little more
than 50 per cent, of establishment.
The aim of all workers in the School Dental Service should be to
ensure that, as far as possible, children should leave school without the
loss of permanent teeth, free from dental disease and irregularity, and
trained in the care of the teeth. Any or all methods which will help
towards that end should, therefore, be pursued.
Orthodontic Clinic.
The work of this department continues to be very popular as the
results of successful treatment are so obvious as to be widely commented
upon with resultant requests for treatment by neighbours who see such
finished cases.
The main difficulty in an understaffed dental scheme is to try to limit
this work to those cases most likely to benefit from it and so ensure that
too much of the total time available is not given up to orthodontia to the
detriment of routine conservative dentistry.
Many cases can be treated by judicious extraction, perhaps followed
by the use of a simple appliance, but long and difficult cases needing up to
two or three years for completion should only be undertaken following
careful consideration of many factors such as the child's age relative to
the school leaver's age, past history as regards regular acceptance of
conservative dental surgery, the state of the dental tissues themselves,
and probably other factors which might militate against a successful
result following the expenditure of a great amount of time.
Oral Hygienist.
Mrs. Thurston continues to devote 7/llths of her time to oral
hygiene work in Leyton, and while the incidence of tartar deposits in
children's mouths is low, the opportunities presented to talk to the
children and to interest them in oral hygiene and correct tooth brushing
are many and valuable.
A good proportion of the children who have had their conservative
work done and subsequently referred to the hygienist for instruction
request appointments at three or six-monthly intervals for routine checkup
without receiving a reminder from the dental department. Some part
of this is undoubtedly due to the interest stimulated by the hygienist's
work.