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19
Finsen Light Treatment No. of patients. 4
No. of applications. 14
No. of attendances 124
No. of attendances guaranteed 168
Pneumo-Thorax Refills No. of patients 3
No. of refills supplied 27
Dental Clinic.
The Dental Clinic was opened at 35, Stepney Green by arrangement with
the British Dental Hospital on August 18th, for the treatment of Tuberculous
patients, expectant and nursing mothers and children under school age. Mr.
T. L. Winn, L.D.S., Eng., was appointed Dentist to the Clinic.
One session of hours is held on Wednesday of each week—one being
devoted to Tuberculous patients and the following one to Maternity and Child
Welfare patients. One session a month is given entirely to anaesthetic cases
and a qualified anaesthetist is specially engaged for such sessions.
No charge is made to the patients for advice, extractions and fillings, but
a charge is made for dentures—the amount being determined by the Committees
upon the circumstances of each case.
20 sessions were held which were attended by 126 maternity patients and
34 tuberculous patients. 63 patients had extractions, the number of teeth
extracted being 247. 21 fillings were supplied.
These figures can, in no way, be taken as an index of the work which is
likely to be done in the near future. As, however, the majority are cases of
multiple extractions under nitrous oxide gas and need several administrations,
which can only be given at intervals of a month, it is obvious that many even
of our early cases have not long finished their surgical treatment. A further
period of some months must elapse before mechanical treatment can be undertaken.
Amongst the child patients and the younger adults, a considerable
amount of conservative treatment has been undertaken. The treatment of the
older patients, has, unfortunately, been very largely radical, owing to the
prevalence of advanced caries and periodontal disease, rendering conservative
treatment impossible.
It is, perhaps, a truism to remark that if the younger patient can be
encouraged to continue treatment throughout life, this melancholy state of
affairs-may be very largely prevented, and our treatment may then be prophylactic
rather than curative.