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admitted to the Prince of Wales's or the Royal Northern Hospitals
for a minimum of two nights, being admitted the day previous to
and discharged not sooner than the day after operation. The
children are brought home in the Council's ambulance, and visited
for the next few days by the School Nurse.
(c) Visual Defects.
The number of children dealt with by Dr. Boden at the Eye
Clinic was 743, 237 of these being new cases. 317 children had
spectacles prescribed for them, and of this number 298 had obtained
the spectacles by the end of the year. In addition, a further ten
children obtained spectacles privately or from hospital.
(d) Ear Disease and Defective Hearing.
The number of children seen by Dr. Friel at the Ear Clinic
during the year was 197, of whom 143 were cases seen for the first
time. 56 of these children were treated for otorrhoea, and of these
41 were cured, 5 still under treatment at the end of the year,
4 referred to hospital for operative treatment, while 6 left the
district before treatment was completed. In addition to these, a
large number of children were treated for defects of hearing due to
catarrh of the middle ear, chronic nasal catarrh and nasal obstruction,
with very satisfactory results. The total attendances at the
Ear Clinic during the year numbered 509.
(e) Dental Defects.
The work done by the School Dental Surgeon during the year
is shown in detail in Table V. It will be seen that the scheme of
dental inspection covers practically the whole school population,
so that dental treatment is available for every child during his
elementary school life. Our endeavour has been, as in former years,
to concentrate as far as possible on conservative treatment, and to
discourage the casual case which wishes to attend only when the
teeth are actually causing pain or discomfort. It will be seen
that so far as permanent teeth are concerned, the ratio of fillings
to extractions is very satisfactory, 3,030 fillings to 481 extractions.
In the case of the temporary teeth, on the other hand, it is found
best to devote much less time to fillings, the number of which is
negligible compared with that of extractions.
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