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number of pre-school referrals. These early referrals are welcomed
by the speech therapists as it often enables speech treatment to be
given before the child's schooling and/or emotions suffer as a
result of the speech or language defect."
SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE.
Mr. E. V. llaigh, Area Dental Officer, submits the following report:-
"The School Dental Service in Ilford was able, during 1964, to
provide full dental treatment to any school child receiving education
under the Local Authority. The aim of the service has been not only
to treat but also to try and make more children more dentally conscious.
The staffing position has remained very good, the six
surgeries in the borough having been kept almost fully staffed all
the year; five of the surgeries staffed by full-time dental officers,
and the sixth by four part-time officers. The Manford Way Clinic,
which is shared with Forest Area and Dagenham, has been used by
Ilford for one day a week. This has been sufficient to cover the
demand for treatment under the Ilford Area at this Clinic.
Conservative Treatment
The saving of teeth has always been the aim of the School
Dental Service; now with more staff it has been possible to enlarge the
scope of conservative treatment. Many more teeth are being saved
to-day than ever before. This can be seen from the statistics
showing the increased number of fillings per patient and the smaller
number of teeth extracted. The most marked improvement in dental
health has been in the young school child of 5 or 6 years of age.
Even 10 years ago in Ilford it was not uncommon for young children
to have to lose all their deciduous teeth. This is almost unheard of
to-day. More children are receiving dental treatment much earlier in
their life either under the National Health Service or the School
Dental Service. With the increase in staff it has become possible to
spend more time on more prolonged conservative treatments such as
root treatment, crowns and inlays. The introduction of new drugs
and techniques have also helped.
Dental Health Education
Mr. Hodgson has continued with this branch of the Dental
Service by arranging film shows and talks in schools. We are now
showing two films as continuously as possible in the schools, one
entitled "The Teeth" for senior children, and the other film entitled