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Report of the Principal School Dental Officer for the year 1970
It is with regret that it must again be recorded
that the development of the school dental
service has been seriously hampered by staffing
difficulties. It became virtually impossible to
fill vacant posts for dental surgery assistants.
During the year a number of admirable candiddes
having previous experience of surgery work
were interviewed and offered posts. All
rejected the offer on consideration of the
commencing salary offered even though it
should be pointed out that in 1965 the borough
council agreed to some discretion in the
commencing salary related to the nationally
agreed scale At the time this was partially
successful inasmuch that it attracted a higher
standard of applicant although few had previous
experience of the work and required training
which was not easy to arrange.
Similar difficulties have occurred in providing
adequate clerical assistance and during the
first three months of the year it was impossible
to replace a clerical assistant who had been
promoted to another section.
The recruitment of dental surgeons improved
but towards the end of the year some were
working at reduced efficiency due to the
failure to provide adequate surgery assistance.
The improvement of this situation is a
matter of urgency and is at present the subject
of detailed discussion.
Due to the loyalty of staff in post these
difficulties were minimised and thanks are due
in particular to surgery assistants who helped
in more than one surgery for extended periods
of time.
As a result more children were inspected and
treated than in the previous year the output
of work was above the national average and the
ratio of teeth filled to teeth extracted continued
to be favourable. The number of emergency
cases however showed a slight increase and
although it would be unwise to draw any
conclusion from one year s increase in
emergency treatments it will give cause for
alarm if the trend continues in 1971.
A considerable amount of advanced
conservative treatment was provided for
special classes of children including the
provision of 102 crowns which usually became
necessary as the result of accidental fracture
of incisor teeth.
Sickle cell anaemia a blood condition which
may result in a hazard during a general anaes
thetic is related to the race of the patient in
particular those who ethnically originate from
Africa Patients may be screened by a comparatively
simple test and during the year arrangements
were made to screen all patients thought
to be at risk before referral for extraction with
a general anaesthetic Records will be kept and
the value of the screening process reassessed
from time to time.
The results of the toothpaste trial undertaken
in Hounslow and commenced in 1965 by
Professor G L Slack and his team, were
published in the British Dental Journal The
newer type of paste was shown to have slightly
greater ability to reduce dental decay than
conventional pastes. The degree of prevention
however was not sufficient for its use to make
a significant impact on dental decay in the
community as a whole.
At the present time fluroidation of domestic
water supplies remains the most effective
method of reducing dental decay on a community
basis. Water fluoridation however remains a
matter of controversy and although the London
Borough of Hounslow has given approval in
principle, implementation of this preventive
measure is not possible until there is a
unanimous demand from all the Authorities
drawing water from the Metropolitan Water
Board and the South West Suburban Water Board.
Research has continued into the significance
of the appearance of the tongue in relation to
possible vitamin deficient states
The increasing school population throws
additional responsibility on the local authority
dental service and a survey has been commenced
to assess the probable demands for dental care
during the next ten years Prelimina-y results
suggest that the local ajthority service in
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