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Report of the Principal School Dental Officer
for the year 1965
School Dental Service
Details of the work done by the school dentists and
orthodontists are shown in Table 5. The dentists
inspect the teeth of pupils in school, and where treatment
is needed the parent is informed and offered
treatment by the school dental service. The proportion
of parents accepting treatment varies from school to
school, but the facilities for dental treatment provided
under the National Health Service Act are also
available to them.
There is still a shortage of suitable dental officers
and trained dental surgery assistants. The Borough's
policy of adjusting the commencing salary to experience
and giving accelerated increments where merited
should assist recruitment. During the year two chairside
attendants have obtained the National Certificate
of Dental Nurses and a further three are studying for
the examination.
One dental auxiliary is employed and she, under
the supervision of dental officers, devotes most of her
time to pre-school and infant department pupils.
Dental health education is conducted largely on a
personal basis in the surgeries. A scheme has been
started for senior pupils in groups of six to visit the
dental clinic at Bath Road where they are shown the
film 'Tons of Teeth' and the various aspects of dental
treatment. A collection of skulls and other materials
related to teeth has been started and is used for
teaching purposes at the clinic and in schools. A copy
of the General Dental Council's booklet 'Why Teeth
are Interesting' has been issued to each head teacher.
During the year the Principal School Dental Officer
was invited to join the staff of the London Hospital
Dental School as honorary adviser in public health
dentistry. This is to be regarded as an important step
towards establishing a much needed liaison with
teaching hospitals.
The Principal School Dental Officer has presented
papers as under—
'The First Permanent Molar Tooth'—Public Dental
Officers Group of the British Dental Association
'The Treatment of Fractured Teeth'—Medical Postgraduate
Federation
The dental department has also been engaged in
research as follows—
1. A pilot survey to determine the effect of a new
toothpaste on the solubility of tooth enamel was
carried out early in the year. The work was done by
the Toilet Research Unit of Unilever Limited, assisted
by the school dental service staff. No results have yet
been published.
2. A major investigation, planned to last for three
years and involving almost 2,000 children and their
families is being conducted to assess the role of
toothpaste in reducing dental decay. The investigation
is organised by the Dental Health Study Unit of the
London Hospital Dental School under the direction
of Professor G L Slack.
3. A survey of the dental condition of five-year old
school children is recorded later in this report.
4. A flash unit for dental photography has been
designed by the Principal School Dental Officer and
was described in the January issue of Medical and
Biological Illustrations.
A Dental Survey of school entrants in the
London Borough of Hounslow - June to
December 1965
by Nance Leaver BDS and Brenda Fox BDS
A survey of the dental condition of 415 children,
aged five years at the time of the inspection was
carried out between June and December 1965. The
children concerned attended schools which were due
for routine school dental examinations and were
representative of those served by four dental clinics—
Hounslow, Chiswick, Brentford and Feltham. The
object of the survey was to obtain data concerning the
dental health of these pupils and the manner in which
they obtained dental treatment and examination.
Details of Charting
1. DMF (Decayed, Missing, Filled) Index
A full charting was made on standard record cards
(Form 11M). The inspection was carried out in the
best possible light, using a dental mirror and an Ash
No. 8 probe which was discarded when blunt, or in
any case after being used for 20 examinations.
Cavities were charted only if there was definite clinical
evidence of caries. Sticky fissures which did not justify
conservation were not recorded. Teeth which could
be conserved only by involved treatment of the pulp
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