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Unregistered Child Minders
Women undertaking the daily care of not more than
two children are not subject to formal supervision, but
health visitors try to keep some watch on children
placed with such unregistered child minders. To
encourage unregistered child minders to accept some
degree of supervision and to bring the children to the
Child Welfare Clinic once a month, the Council,
subject to the minder and the child's mother accepting
and abiding by the scheme, will pay the minder Is Od
per day for each child minded. So far this scheme has
not been popular and at the end of the year only three
unregistered child minders were participating.
Family Planning Association
The Council has no directly provided family
planning clinics but such clinics are organised within
the Borough by the Family Planning Association in
the following Council premises— Hounslow, Brentford,
Feltham, Bedfont and Isleworth clinics. No
charge is made to the Association for the use of these
clinics.
The Council agreed to continue to accept the
responsibility undertaken by the former Middlesex
County Council for charges made by the Family
Planning Association in respect of patients referred to
them by the Council's medical officers where it was
considered that pregnancy would be detrimental to
health. In November, the Association introduced a
further method of contraception, the intra uterine
contraceptive device which is given in certain clinics
under the direction of skilled doctors and the supervision
of a consultant gynaecologist.
Close co-operation with the Family Planning
Association is maintained at all times.
Dental Care
The following report on the operation of the
priority dental service has been submitted by the Chief
Dental Officer, Mr D H Norman LDS RCS BDS—
'The number of pre-school children attending the
Borough clinics must represent well under 10 per cent
of those who would benefit from regular dental care.
A survey of the condition of children's teeth on
entering school is published in the report of the
Principal School Medical Officer for 1965. It provides
clear evidence that many more children need to attend
for dental treatment at an earlier age than is
customary ; a quarter of the school entrants were
found to have already lost one or more deciduous
teeth by the time they entered school at the age of five.
Only a comparatively small number of expectant
and nursing mothers attend the clinics, which can
only be expected in an area where the facilities in the
General Dental Service are of a high standard and
freely available.
During the year the following were among those
who visited the clinics—
Dr Ralph McDonald—President, American Society
of Dentistry for Children
Professor J F De Villiers and Dr J Howell—both
members of the Commission of Enquiry into
Public Dental Services South Africa
Dr Gillespie of the Ann Arbor School of Public
Dental Health USA
Dr Grimsrud—Saskatchewan Canada
The work of the dental auxiliary has been appreciated
by parents, and she has continued to treat very
young children under the supervision of the dental
officers. If this experiment is ultimately accepted, the
employment and value of dental auxiliaries must
inevitably depend upon the availability of suitable
premises, and also that of dental officers who are able
to adjust their methods of working to embrace supervisory
duties for which they have had no formal
training. It is anticipated that the experiment will be
finally assessed in the Summer of 1966.
During the year the dental department has
co-operated in research to evaluate the use of
fluoridated toothpaste which will continue during the
next two years.
Fluoridation of public water supplies was under
consideration by the Health Committee but the matter
was deferred.
Statistics on dental care provided at clinics during
the year are shown in table 21.'
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