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100
Report of the School Dental Surgeon for the Year 1935.
(Table V. Page 122).
Inspection.
During the year 1935 a dental inspection was carried
out in 20 schools by the dental nurse and myself; the teeth
of 3,975 individual children were examined, and it was
found that 2,246 of these children required dental
attention, i.e., 56 per cent.
It is to be noted that five schools, namely, Raglan
Road Boys', Princes Plain Girls', Princes Plain Juniors',
Parish Boys', and Parish Girls' have received no dental
inspection this year—a matter of some 1,600 children.
Until the year 1934 we were able to inspect every
school child and treat all those who required treatment
once a year, according to the accepted principle that
inspection and the relative treatment should be on an
annual basis. In 1934, however, the round of schools took
14 months to complete, so that the 1935 circuit was not
commenced until March and will probably not be finished
before April, 1936.
The reason we are no longer able to deal with our
school population on an annual basis is as follows.
•
The Board of Education in a recent statement consider
that a full-time dental officer can be expected to serve a
school population of not more than 5,000, and this figure
is based on the fact that in England and Wales only about
63 per cent. of those children considered to need treatment
actually avail themselves of the facilities provided.
In this Borough our school population is about 5,700
—in excess of the Board's figure by 700—and, moreover,
80 per cent. of those considered to need treatment actually
seek to obtain it at the Dental Clinic, that is 7 per cent.
more than the average.
It will be seen from these figures that our Dental
Scheme is now seriously incomplete, and to put it again on
a proper basis of annual inspection and treatment for every
scholar, some assistance has become necessary.