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102
Then the child passes into the hands of the School Dentist,
and has its mouth inspected at least once a year. When it leaves
school it is left more or less to its own devices, but in the future
Dental treatment will become a statutory benefit under the
National Health Insurance Acts, as recommended by the
Majority Report of the Royal Commission on National Health
Insurance; thus in the future the good work done during babyhood
and childhood will be continued, and the benefits conferred by
dental treatment will be within the reach of everybody. To
remedy the apathy and ignorance of to-day, the children must be
educated in the benefits of cleanliness. First of all the desire for
cleanliness must be implanted in the childish mind, and then the
way will be open for the children to practise cleanliness, and thus
will habits be formed. This can be accomplished by short talks,
illustrations, short lantern and cinema lectures, tooth-brush drill,
etc. The teachers' services in this connection would be very
valuable. Thus the gospel of preventive dentistry will spread, and
in the future the appalling apathy and ignorance will disappear
and a far healthier nation will be the result.
The age groups to be inspected during 1926 will be the same
as in 1925, namely 5 to 9 years inclusive.
Particular attention has been paid during the past year to
conservative work, fillings being done wherever possible to prolong
the life of permanent and temporary teeth. The mouths of all
children attending the Clinic have been rendered sound and clean,
all sepsis being eliminated. Injections have been given for all
extractions where possible; in cases of sepsis gas or ethyl chloride
has been used.
The Dental Clinic is still housed in the basement and working
under its former unhealthy conditions, but as new premises have
been promised, this state of things, one hopes, will not last much
longer.
The tact, patience, and conscientiousness of the Dental Nurse,
Miss Olifent, has been a large asset in the success of the Clinic,
and I should like to record my appreciation of her services during
the year 1925.
Details of treatment given to mothers and children sent from
the Maternity and Child Welfare Centre are appended in the
following statistical table :—