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75
B„ Routine Dental Inspections.
Owing to shortage of staff the number of children inspected in school
by Dental Officers fell to about half the number inspected during the previous
year. The total of 4,438 children whose teeth were examined comprises only
28% of the total school roll, and is equivalent to a rate of one examination
for each child in every 3½ years. This is a matter for serious concern
for without regular inspection at least once and preferably twice each year,
the preventive bias of the School Dental Service will be lost. Teeth
which might otherwise have been saved will further decay and extraction
will become inevitable. This in its turn may result in other teeth coming
through out of line, and the orthodontic treatment needed to correct the lie
of the teeth involves a considerable and quite unnecessary wastage of both
time and money.
It may be asked: "why not devote more sessions to inspection in the
schools?" The answer is simple - even at present there is a considerable
waiting list for children needing relatively urgent treatment, and there
is little point in adding large numbers to the list without any hope of
treating them.
From the statistics in table 55 in the appendix, it will be seen
that of the children examined in school or in the clinics 78% needed treatment,
and that for every tooth filled over four were extracted. These
facts form a sad commentary upon a "priority" dental service.
B. Audiometric Surveys.
Group testing of the hearing of children in their last year at primary
school has continued during the year. 1,734 were tested and of these 165
(9.5%) were referred for further investigation, It has been our experience
that of those who fail approximately half pass on re-testing, the original
failure being due to factors such as nervousness, difficulty in understanding
instructions, inattention or excessive extraneous noise. Those
failing a second test are referred to the E.N.T. Clinic, where the majority
are found to have wax or simple catarrhal blockage of the Eustachian tubes
and only a few have any serious defect , I hope to present a detailed
examination of such cases in my next report,
D, Cleanliness Inspections.
Health visitors attend every school once in each term inl order to
examine the children for cleanliness and infestation. 39,868 such
examinations were carried out during the year, and as a result 745 pupils
were found to be harbouring nits or head lice. The infestation rate of
1.9% compares favourably with that in some other areas, but at the same
time warns against complacency.
SCHOOL HEALTH CLINICS
Minor Ailment Clinics.
Attendances at these Clinics have ueen decreasing for the past two
years, which In part may be due to the fact that medical attention is now
available from general practitioners under the National Health Service Act.
During the year it was found necessary to discontinue one of the three
clinics held each week at Manor Park in order to provide accommodation for
an extra Infant Welfare Clinic needed to relieve serious overcrowding at the