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101
Dental Clinics
Dr. Allan Ross, Senior Dental Officer, submits the following report
"I have the honour to present my report on the work carried out in the
Dental Clinics during the year 1952.
During the year under review, the dental staff consisted of two fulltime
Dental Officers and one Oral Hygienist. Some intermittent parttime
help was obtained, but it was not as beneficial as had been hoped.
It is now felt that if the authorised establishment cannot be filled it
is preferable to ask for additional evening work from the existing fulltime
staff. Steps were taken towards the end of the year to put this
into effect.
The number of routine inspections at school reached what is hoped will
be the lowest ever figure and as this report is written there is already
evidence that this is indeed so. In this County Borough we are fortunate
in having the full co-operation of our medical colleagues who refer
a large number of cases to us. In this way all the urgent cases are
treated and this is reflected in the very high number of special inspections.
Thus, it must be emphasized that a large number of the special
inspections are not cases requiring urgent treatment for the relief of
pain, but cases that obviously require dental treatment when seen at
routine medical insepctions. These cases often require many visits.
The X-ray apparatus was installed during the year and it has proved
of inestimable value.
The number of conservations especially in the deciduous teeth has
greatly increased as compared with the previous yearQ The number of
permanent extractions Is also greater0 These figures reflect a very
difficult year of transition when an entirely new staff were attempting
to grapple with a huge problem. It is anticipated that these rather
abnormal figures will settle down to something more normal in subsequent
yearso.
1952 will probably stand out as one of the most anxious years in the
story of the dental services for the borough.
We were fortunate to appoint Dr. Ross, an energetic and skilled dental
surgeon, to the post of School Dental Officer, and immediately great
difficulty was experienced in finding a suitable dentist to fill .the
remaining vacancy.
An appeal was made to the local dental committee for dental practitioners
to come Into the Council's clinics on a sessional basis, but
this met with no response as most of the local dentists were far too
busy with their own practices;.
Repeated advertisement in the dental journals also yielded no results,
for the only dentists available were over agep or coloured men who were
seeking dental experience before returning to Africa, India or the West
Indies.
Meanwhile the two available staff and such temporary help as could be
procured from time to time, carried on a skeleton service mainly for the
most urgent dental cases, and a huge waiting list of about 1000 cases
piled up with little hope for many of them ever being attended to at our
clinics.
It Is possible evening sessions for dental work may alleviate somewhat
this disturbing situation, for there is little possibility of
recruitment to our dental staff at the present time.