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15
Diastolisation has proved to be most useful for treating the blocking of
the nose due to a severe cold. The inflammation in the ear does not
always go on to suppuration, but the hearing is diminished and there is
often some pain. These cases are just as important to treat as the
suppurating ears on account of the liability to slight deafness becoming
permanent. The principal difficulty lies in detecting them. Without
the audiometer and the Cowan picture frame many more would be missed.
Diastolisation is our mainstay in treating catarrh and inflammatory
obstruction of the nose in young children. As our knowledge has increased,
both as to the cause of catarrhal deafness as well as to the age at which
the onset takes place, we are in a position to know when to suspect it,
how to prevent it, and how to treat it. There is at present an enormous
amount of slight or moderate deafness in adults, the greater part of which
should in future be preventible."
Dental Defects.—The number of children examined during the year
reached a total of 12,219. The number found to require treatment was
8,068. The number actually treated was 3,753, or 46.5 per cent. This
apparent low percentage of acceptances has been a matter for consideration
by the Committee during the year and it was felt that this was due in
large measure to the absence of a satisfactory scheme for the following-up
in the home of cases of unexplained refusal. This was due to the fact
that the dental nurses' time was wholly occupied by the routine clinic
and dental inspection work. To re-establish an efficient "following-up"
system the Education Committee has decided to appoint female dental
attendants to assist in the routine clinic work and thus release the fully
trained school nurse for the important educative work associated with
home visiting. By arrangement with the Maternity and Child Welfare
Committee it has been decided to recommend the early establishment of
an additional dental clinic to deal with the treatment of expectant and
nursing mothers and children under school age.
I am indebted to Mr. Sainty, the Committee's Dental Surgeon,
for the following report:—
"The work of the dental clinics has continued on lines similar to
those of recent years. In the area served by the Lordship Lane Clinic
all children, including nursery school children, are inspected annually
in the schools and treatment is offered to all those who require it; this