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74
at the Welfare Centre to nursing and expectant mothers, is bound
to have a very marked effect in reducing the number of cases of
school children showing dental defects, but at present it is advisable
to commence dental inspection at the Schools at the age of
entrance.
The routine work for 1921 should therefore include the primary
inspection and treatment of all children in the age-group 5 to 7,
together with the re-examination of all children between the ages
of 7 and 9 (i.e., the age-groups 6 to 8, which were previously
inspected in 1920).
•
The number of children included in the routine inspections
will increase year by year, until the children of all ages are under
dental supervision, and as the percentage of those availing themselves
of treatment is increasing, the amount of work to be undertaken
will be great, and if this work is to be carried out as it
should be, the advisability of appointing a second School Dentist
should be considered. The dental treatment has been of very
great benefit to those children whom it has been found possible
to treat, and it is therefore only reasonable that the present
scheme should be increased to such an extent and in such a manner
that efficient dental treatment may be provided, as soon as possible,
for all the children in the schools. The question of carrying
out orthodontic treatment at the Dental Clinic might also be
considered; many cases of irregularity of the teeth have been met
with, and the majority of these could be corrected by the fitting
of a simple vulcanite appliance; the outlay for the necessary
apparatus would not be great, and the cost of the individual appliances
might be defrayed by the parents of the children concerned.
The accommodation at the School Dental Clinic is by no
means ideal; the surgery is well equipped with up-to-date appliances,
but the admission of more daylight would result in the
saving of much time and strain. A larger and more comfortable
waiting room, and a third room, with a separate exit, for use after
gas cases, etc., are also very necessary.