View report page

51
In addition there is the work done by the dental officer of Northwood,
who attends to some 3,000 children from certain schools in the district,
and by the dental officer at Wembley, who attends to the 1,000 children
at the Stag Lane School.
An orthodontic surgeon now works at Roxeth Hill clinic, devoting
practically all his time to this clinic though seeing other children from
areas other than Harrow. The following is a report for the period May
to December, 1947, by Mr. Frank Jones, the orthodontic surgeon in
which he analyses the conditions which lead to those states for which
the children attend his clinic and gives his views of the position of the
orthodontist in the school dental service.
"At Roxeth Hill Clinic 330 children were inspected. For nearly all
these children study casts were prepared and radiographic examination
carried out, the latter work having been done at Redhill and Hillingdon
Hospitals.
The number of cases actually treated with appliances was 213, whilst
a number of children will have appliances ready to be fitted at the
beginning of the new term.
Some cases not considered to require immediate appliance treatment
were referred for observation and will be reviewed at intervals
varying from three to six months.
A number of appliance cases and others were referred to dental
officers for necessary orthodontic extractions.
Excluding repairs, a total of 243 appliances were fitted."
Attendances: During the seven months 1,820 attendances were
made at the clinic for inspection or treatment. About 256 appointments
were unkept, approximately 12 per cent. This figure includes illness,
special school arrangements, attendance at the wrong session or on the
wrong day and new patients who had been found to have left the school
or the district.
One or two complaints have been received from children and parents
that the teacher will not give an attendance mark unless the child attends
school for even a short time on the session in question, in spite of
previously being notified that the child was to attend the clinic. This
misunderstanding, however, does not appear to be a general one.
Cases Referred for Orthodontic Treatment: The number of
children, in each age group, who were referred to the clinic for orthodontic
inspection is as follows:—Age 5, nil; age 6, 3; age 7, 8 (deciduous
dentition stage); age 8, 35; age 9, 49; age 10, 70; age 11, 90
(mixed dentition stage); age 12, 42; age 13, 22; age 14, 7; age 15,
2; age 16, 2 (permanent dentition). Total, 330.
It will be seen from the above table that less than eleven children
in the true deciduous stage were referred.
The majority of cases, about 80 per cent., were referred in the mixed
dentition stage (half those aged 7 and 12 being placed in this group).
The largest number referred were in the 11 age group. This may
be accounted for by the fact that it is the average age when the
permanent canine tooth makes it very obvious that there is a lack of
space for its eruption into normal alignment.
Much can be done in the way of simple "functional" appliances
during the deciduous dentition stage, and it is a pity that more cases