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SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
Mrs. B. Fox, B.D.S.—Principal School Dental Officer
Dental Staff
Considerable progress has been made in many fields but temporary shortages of whole time
dental officers has resulted in a lack of continuity of treatment and school inspections in some
clinics. The shortage of house officer posts in the dental teaching hospitals has resulted in a number
of graduates joining the authority on qualification but leaving after six months to return to hospitals
as posts become vacant. In the long term this should result in a better child dental service if staff
can be attracted back to the service when they have completed their term of postgraduate training.
There are, however, a considerable number of problems with short term staff. This fact, albeit
with the great emphasis now placed on preventive dentistry, has necessitated full use of postgraduate
and in-service training facilities. It is hoped that these efforts to weld a team of staff together will
mitigate the effects of a frequently changing staff on the children's dental treatment. The aim of the
service must be to attract whole time staff who are sufficiently committed to spend a number of years
with the authority.
The Chief Dental Officer, Mrs. B. Fox, was appointed as an honorary clinical assistant in the
Children's Department at The London Hospital Dental School.
Mr. John Furniss joined the authority in April 1972 as a Senior Dental Officer. He was previously
at University College Dental Hospital where he was Registrar in the Children's Department. Both he
and Mr. J. G. Windmill (Senior Dental Officer) have been appointed honorary clinical assistants in
the Children's Department at University College Dental Hospital.
Handicapped Children
Efforts have continued to provide a consistent and comprehensive dental service for children
attending special schools in the Borough. Mr. Furniss has continued with some of his special interests
in handicapped children and the dental service is now able to provide certain specialised forms of
treatment previously only available in hospital.
It has taken over two years to catch up with the backlog of treatment needs of these children.
There are many complicating factors both social and medical. The proportion of time spent on their
care far outweighs that spent on the average child. Children with complex medical conditions and
those who are severely handicapped still need to be referred to a hospital so that they may be given
full nursing after-care when recovering from a general anaesthetic.
General Dental Practitioners
It is pleasing to report that a closer liaison is being established with general dental practitioners
in the Borough. Through occasional newsletters they are acquainted with new projects in the local
authority service, new forms or leaflets given to parents and any areas of difficulty being encountered
in the Borough. We are fortunate that our general dental practitioners provide a comprehensive
service for large numbers of school children and are able to see them for routine check-up examinations.
Children in this Borough are in a very fortunate position compared to the country as a whole,
as regular treatment is available to them. School dental inspections in many parts of the Borough
serve to remind parents that they should make a recall appointment with their family dentist.
School Dental Inspections
The number of children receiving a school dental inspection is still far short of the ideal situation.
The school dental inspection is a screening process developed to select those children thought to
be in need of treatment. The parents are invited to bring the child for a more detailed examination
in the dental surgery at the clinic or to make an appointment with their own dentist. A small number
of children with neglected mouths are still found at school inspections but it is frequently found that
they have not accepted previous offers of treatment, or they have recently moved into the area. A
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