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REPORT OF PRINCIPAL SCHOOL DENTAL OFFICER.
The year 1966 saw many changes in the dental staff. Mrs. E. M. Johnson who
was formerly employed by the Surrey County Council at Mortlake Clinic retired after
14 years service in June. I would likes to record appreciation of her services during
these years. Mrs. M. M. Herd and Mr. A. B. Jeetoo were appointed full time dental
officers in April. Mrs. Herd resigned, however, in October and Mr. Jeetoo, due to
family illness, was granted 4 months leave without pay during the year. Miss A. E.
MacNichol was appointed full time dental officer at the newly opened Ham Clinic in
November. Mr. E. N. Daver was appointed part-time dental officer for the new dental
surgery at Barnes Clinic in September. Two dental surgery assistants resigned and one
was appointed during the year. Mr. E. Godman, senior dental technician, retired in
February after many years of ill health due to a motor accident. Mr. T. A. McVey
was made Senior Dental Officer on 1st April, 1966 and attended an Inlay, Crown, and
Bridge Course at the University College Hospital Dental School from 2nd May to
6th May.
Two new dental surgeries were opened, one at Ashburnham Road, Ham, in April
and one at Essex House, Barnes, in September. The dental surgery at Mortlake was
closed pending further developments of staffing and equipping. Three new Philips
X-Ray machines were installed and X-ray facilities are now available at Ham, Barnes,
Richmond and Hampton Wick clinics.
A senior professional adviser from the Department of Education and Science made
a formal inspection of the Dental Services of the Borough on 14th/15th June and the
report subsequently presented by the Secretary of State for Education and Science to
the Town Clerk stated "good progress is being made in the organisation of the Dental
Service in the new Borough". Some criticisms were made which in the main have been
corrected To encourage regular patients who have left school to continue to have
regular treatment through the General Dental Service a letter was introduced to be
sent to school leavers urging them to seek early advice or treatment with a dental
practitioner.
All junior and senior schools were advised that pupils who play contact sports
such as football, hockey, boxing, etc. may have, if they wish, individually made mouth
guards made for them at any clinic.
During the year a study of the problem of preventive dentistry was made because
a consistent] and disturbing feature of the dental surveys that have been carried out in
Great Britain during the last two decades has been the increase in the prevalence of
dental caries in the child population. The evidence of this deterioration comes from a
variety of different sources, including school dental statistical returns and Ministry of
Health reports. The increase in caries is general throughout the country. 84% of 5
year old children now have decayed teeth, and 75% of 12 year olds. The child
population of the borough between the ages of 3 and 15 years when teeth are particularly
susceptible to caries attack, is approximately 35,000 there being approximately
2,600 in each year of this group.
Although there is still controversy about the causation of dental caries, the great
weight of evidence implicates the production of acid in the mouth as the major factor.
There is also strong evidence that carbohydrate provides the substrate from which the
acid is produced by oral micro-organisms. It has been found that the total quantity
of sugar consumed does not have so great an effect on the incidence of dental caries as
the frequency of consumption. Children who consume sugar between meals, especially
in the form of sticky sweets, have more dental decay than those who consume an
equivalent amount of sugar at meal times. Between-meal snacks are usually of carbohydrate
and tend to spoil the appetite for the more nutrious foods (e.g. fats and
proteins) consumed at meal times. The simple sugars usually consumed in the form
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