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108 Report of the Principal School Medical Officer for the Year 1967
Recuperative Holidays
In accordance with the provisions of Section 48 of the Education Act, 1944, arrangements were
made for 9 boys and 8 girls to have a recuperative holiday free of charge. In addition, 2 diabetic girls
had a holiday provided through the Diabetic Association and 2 epileptic boys and 1 girl had a holiday
provided through the Epileptic Association.
Tuberculosis Occurring in Teachers and Pupils
A teacher at a secondary school had come to this country from Canada, where her chest had been
X-rayed at annual intervals until 1965. In 1967 she decided to return to Canada, and thus she had a
chest X-ray in a routine manner. This X-ray showed evidence of a tuberculous lesion, but no cavity was
present. During the time that the teacher was in this country her general condition had remained good,
and she denied any chest symptom of significance. The Chest Physician recommended that the appropriate
school contact investigation should be carried out. This was done with perfectly satisfactory
results.
During the year, three schoolchildren were notified as cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. In each
case, the source of infection was known, and I was advised by the Chest Physician that epidemiological
investigation in schools was not necessary.
Enuresis Alarm Apparatus
During the year the number of enuresis alarms in general use was increased to 46, and this made it
possible to make 121 separate issues during 1967. A particular advantage of having a sufficient number
of alarms is that it enables a replacement issue to be made at once when a set is returned for repair,
thus allowing continuity of treatment.
During the year 47 successful results were recorded, and after sustained use it was regretted that in
21 cases it had to be accepted that the result was not successful. In other cases treatment was still in
progress at the end of the year, but there were a few instances where the system had not been given a
fair trial or where the child was found to be afraid of the apparatus.
School Dental Service
The shortage of dental officers continued throughout the year. Repeated advertisements were
placed in the British Dental Journal and other professional publications without response. It would
appear that the application of the Whitley Agreement is too rigid and additional incentives should be
introduced if more dental surgeons of suitable calibre are to be encouraged to enter the Public Dental
Service.
During 1967 there was a fall in the total work done compared with the previous year. Of the
19,597 children examined, 35.6% were found to require treatment. There is no doubt that more and
more children are receiving regular dental treatment through the various services available, including,
of course, their private dental practitioners. In all 6,066 children were treated at the clinics and 4,674
had had their treatment completed; in other words, were made dentally fit.
The interesting feature was the ratio of fillings to extractions in the various age groups.
Age Groups 5-9 years
38:1 permanent dentition
3:1 deciduous dentition
Age Groups 10-14 years
21:1 permanent dentition
1:1.3 deciduous dentition
Age Group 15 Plus
13:1 permanent dentition
Extractions for orthodontic reasons have been
ignored.
These figures show the importance of regular visits and the high proportion of patients who are
receiving conservative treatment. Staff shortage necessitated curtailing the number of schools inspected,