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35
the Borough over the past ten years. This is due to the fact
that there is a high usage of the general dental service and
also that most mothers are more dentally health conscious and
as such are under private practitioners supervision prior to the
ante-natal or post-natal care. Another factor is that a mother
may only attend for twelve months after the confinement. Continuity
of treatment is I am certain very important and the fact
that they may only attend for a limited period stops many
mothers attending at all.
Pre-School Children
The number of children under five years old inspected
during 1966 increased by 13% and also the amount of treatment
Increased. This increase has continued over the past few years
and has been made possible by the co-operation of Medical
Officers, Health Visitors and Health Education, making parents
realise the importance of commencing dental supervision and
treatment at an early age. The need for many more of the preschool
children to receive regular dental care is important.
I am certain that one of the main ways to combat dental
disease is te start now with the very young children. By
showing their parents the importance of good dental habits
and regular dental treatment, these children will be conscious
of the fact that their teeth are important to their health when
they are older. Many of these young children are dentally
neglected, some private practitioners are not anxious to treat
them and parents still tend to think that deciduous teeth are
not important. It is gratifying to note that 21% more fillings
were done for these patients during 1966, but at the same time
the number of extractions also increased by the same percentage
which I think shows that these children are not being
seen at a sufficiently early age.
The use of high speed airotors for cavity preparation continued
to be of great value. There is less fear by mothers of
fillings now than there used to be and small children accept
this method of cavity preparation surprisingly well, partly
because it is less painful and so much quicker.
Dentures
Dentures were supplied to patients whenever it was considered
necessary. These were made by a local dental laboratory,
the same as for many years in the past and has continued
most satisfactorily.