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61
School Dental Service
The service was maintained during the year, though there were some changes in
personnel.
Two full-time dental officers resigned, one for reason of retirement and the other
to take up a similar appointment nearer to his home; also two part-time dental officers
left, all vacancies being filled with little delay. The resulting staff position
remains unaltered, comprising the area dental officer, five full-time and 16/11
equivalent in part-time dental officers, and one dental auxiliary. The orthodontist's
sessions were reduced for a period of three months and later restored to six per
week.
The total number of sessions worked was 320%, an increase of 116% over those for
last year. This constituted 89% of the dental officer's time.
At 175% inspection sessions 20198 children, i.e. 75% of school roll were inspected;
11767 (587°) were found to require treatment, and of these, 6560 (587°) were treated S-t
the clinics. There is evidence that many children receive regular treatment through
the National Health Service; a small number make only occasional attendances, and
treatment is offered in these cases.
Treatment sessions amounted to 3 094. The output of work remained steady, and
continued to be mostly conservative in nature. 1414-7 fillings were inserted in 12359
permanent teeth, and the number of permanent extractions again decreased, by 116 to
701. As 174 of this total were extracted for orthodontic purposes, it follows that
just over 23 permanent teeth were conserved for one permanent tooth lost by disease.
1245 more temporary teeth were saved than in 1962. A reduction in the number of
teeth extracted in both primary and permanent dentitions showed a corresponding decrease
in the number of general anaesthetics administered, and dentures fitted. 147 evening
sessions were held for the treatment of school children, and were well attended by
selected cases, the output of work being greater, with fewer broken appointments than
at average day sessions. In general, the number of appointments not kept continues
to cause concern, 21.3% children failing to attend without excuse, or the notice given
being too short to offer the appointment to another patient.
The Dental Auxiliary has worked her first full year as part of the experimental scheme
to assess the value of such persons in the Local Authority Service. 90% of her time
has been devoted to the School Dental Service, and for 13% of this she has been engaged
on Dental Health Education in schools, concentrating her efforts on children aged seven
to eleven years. These classes were mostly in the Hornsey part of the Area where her
clinical duties were carried out. She was well received in the schools, and we feel
she is making a good contribution in the field of preventive dentistry. It is worthy
of mention that the dental auxiliary is held against the establishment of dental
officers, although the number of clinical sessions undertaken, and the output of work
(partly because she is not allowed surgery assistance) are not the equivalent of a
dental officer. The supervision required also occupies time that would normally be
spent on patients. Thus it will be seen that both the dental auxiliary and the
supervisory dental officer tend to lower the average level of work done in the
Area.