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Mr. L. W. Elmer, L.D.S., Senior Dental Surgeon, reports as
follows:—
' 'I propose to divide my remarks this year into three sections.
First, a summary of the work achieved by the School Dental
Service; second, my opinion of what would be an ideal dental
scheme; and third, a consideration of what could be done to achieve
this ideal.
"(1) It gives me pleasure to report a certain progress during
the year in what I believe to be the right direction.
''The advantage gained by the addition to our numbers of a
third dental surgeon has been partially nullified by the ruling
(following the inspection of the dental service by the Board in 1935)
that the dental officers must not give anaesthetics for their own
operations. This has involved the loss of three sessions weekly
which were previously devoted to operative work.
"In spite of this, the amount of conservative work continues
to increase, 7,620 defective teeth having been rendered sound against
5,655 last year, the majority of these being of the permanent
dentition. Against this, the incidence of decay shows little signs
of improvement. This is particularly noticeable in the younger
children, the state of whose teeth when first examined is often
appalling.
"It is no unusual occurrence to find a child of five years old
with every tooth decayed, many so extensively that extraction is
the only course left open.
"It must not be forgotten that the cure of dental disease—
and, if possible, its prevention—is the object for which school
dentistry exists, and while these conditions prevail the dental
profession can have no cause for self-congratulation.