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51
The Routine Inspections have completely surveyed the
children in the schools, apart from absentees and objectors, and
some of the children in the Bulstrode School, which was only
opened late in the year.
The findings at these Inspections are shown in the Tables
in this report.
Following the formal recognition of the Dental Nurse by the
Board of Education in March, 1931, she has been used to a large
extent to relieve me of much of the routine inspecting, charting
and recording work, and of the 6,804 children seen at routine
inspections 3,605 were inspected by me and 3,199 by the Dental
Nurse, the latter working at a speed and with such accuracy as to
call for special praise.
An endeavour is now being made also to catch absentees from
Dental Inspections by notifying the parents that their children
have missed the annual Dental Inspection, and offering them an
opportunity to come to the Clinic if they so wish. Sixty-one cases
availed themselves of this offer, and these children were also inspected
by the Dental Nurse on coming to the Clinic.
With regard to the Board's Table IV., Group IV. (Dental
Defects, page 48) it should be noted that the figure " specials,"
1,486, represent special " Inspections " of various kinds at the
Clinic and not individual children. Some of these specials will
also have had a Routine Dental Inspection and be included in
these figures. They also may have had to be referred more than
once as specials, and will thus have been recorded on each occasion
as a special inspection. The 1,486 are made up as follows:—
Number Total
Referred for Gas, or Gas and Ethyl Chloride 768
Advice found necessary; Routine Clinic Work 135
Advice (Orthodontic) to parents re cases found at
Inspections and during Clinic Visits ... 345
Treatment postponed 173
Absentees at School Inspections; inspected at
Clinic 61
Inspection after Gas—required further treatment 4
1,486
It may be said that the chief aim of the treatment here is
towards conserving the teeth, keeping extractions down to a
minimum. This is indicated by the fillings figure—3,085, which
works out at nearly 85 fillings per 100 children treated ; the figure
for the whole country averages 68 fillings per 100 children treated,
("Health of the School Child—1930").