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113
Report on the School Dental Service in the
Year 1938.
Inspection.
During the year 1938 all the schools of the Education
Authority received a dental inspection, with the exception
of the new school at Southborough, which will be inspected
during the new year.
The inspections are carried out on the school premises
by the dentist, with the assistance of the dental
nurse, and parents are invited to be present.
A very gratifying number of parents has attended
this year. We make use of the occasion to explain the
general working of our scheme and our aim, namely,
that as many children as possible are rendered free from
pain and septic conditions. We also try to train the
children in the care of their teeth so that when they leave
school they will continue to give some attention to the
condition of their mouths and teeth. It must be remembered
that with our dental service we are working not
only in the present but for the future and we hope that
when the children of to-day become parents themselves
they will be in a position to understand what regular
dental treatment can do and so encourage their children.
Dental treatment is something like an insurance
Policy, where to obtain the benefit, premiums must be
paid regularly; in other words, in order to obtain comfort
in dental matters a visit or so to the dentist must be paid
each year.
The number of children examined during the year
was 5,245, and of this number 54 per cent, required
treatment. In 1937 the percentage of children requiring
treatment was 60 per cent. This marked improvement is,
of course, due to the working of the South Clinic, where
Mr. Ordish attended 111 sessions.
Treatment.
The total attendance has this year passed all records
at 5,468, compared with 5,004 last year and 4,368 in 1936;
in 1935, when only one dentist was employed, the