London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Waltham Forest 1973
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Waltham Forest]
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THE DENTAL SERVICE
Mr.R.C.Ward, Principal Dental Officer, writes
As will be seen from the following comments 1973 has been a year of mixed
blessings for the Dental Department.
Recruitment
At last the staffing situation in relation to dental officers has started to improve
This is shown by the fact that a sessional officer has now become full-time; and
we shall have a further full-time and sessional appointment early in 1974. This
will bring our total full-time equivalent of dental officers to 7.3.
It is unfortunate that this pattern of improved recruitment was not reflected in
the dental surgery assistants. Indeed, it has proved difficult to attract applicants
on the salary scales at present in force.
School
Inspections
The number of children inspected at school rose from 14,635 in 1972 to 17,759
in 1973. Taking into account those pupils inspected at the clinics, a total of
58%of the school population received a dental inspection during the year
compared with 51% in 1972. This now compares favourably with the national
average of 59%; although of course this is no excuse for not trying to increase
this figure in the future.
Initially, we have concentrated on providing an annual inspection in the primary and special schools, and this has now been achieved. A start has now been made on the junior comprehensives and it is to be hoped that this can be expanded in the future.
| Ratio of Filled/Extracted Teeth Deciduous | Number of General Anaesthetics as a % of total visits by all patients | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | Welfare | School | Welfare | |
| 1971 | 2.0 | 4.3 | 7 | 5 |
| 1972 | 2.5 | 8.0 | 4.5 | 2 |
| 1973 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 3.3 | 5.4 |
Child
Welfare
Service
Although it will be seen that the ratio of filled to extracted deciduous teeth
has risen in the school service this has not applied in the child welfare service.
In addition the number of general anaesthetics as a percentage of the total visits
by all children was 5.4 as compared with 2 in 1972.
Combining this with a figure of 85.8% of children inspected requiring treatment a
definite indication emerges that the service is not progressing.
This is disappointing because we have made efforts to encourage parents to bring
the under fives along for an inspection before any obvious treatment is required.
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