London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hackney 1930
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hackney]
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| Patients' contributions:— | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For Dentures | 45 | 6 | 9 | |||
| For Extractions, etc. | 11 | 13 | 0 | |||
| Total contributio | ns | 56 | 19 | 9 | ||
| Net cost to the Council . | £232 | 0 | 6 |
In 29 cases dentures were supplied without cost to the patients.
The following table is given in order to show the extent to which expectant and nursing mothers and their children have benefited from the facilities for dental treatment provided by the Council under its maternity and child welfare scheme since the opening of the clinic at the end of 1925:—
| Year. | No. of Sessions held. | No. of Attendances. | No. of Extractions. | No. of Fillings. | No. of other treatments. | No of Persons to whom Dentures were supplied. | No. of Dentures supplied. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | 53 | 697 | 1146 | 50 | 85 | 33 | 59 |
| 1927 | 51 | 644 | 798 | 21 | 66 | 34 | 61 |
| 1928 | 51 | 660 | 762 | 23 | 56 | 44 | 76 |
| 1929 | 51 | 544 | 852 | 16 | 61 | 34 | 64 |
| 1930 | 81 | 874 | 1120 | 81 | 74 | 64 | 105 |
| 287 | 3419 | 4678 | 191 | 342 | 209 | 365 |
The following is a report by the Council's Dental Surgeon:—
Report by H. C. Middleton, L.D.S., R.C.S. (Edin.).
The Dental Clinic has been working for five years, and I beg to offer some
general observations on the work to supplement the actual figures of attendances,
treatment, etc., preceding this report.
The adult patients may be roughly divided into two groups.
The first group comprises mothers between the ages of 35 and 45 years.
In most cases their mouths present a hopeless spectacle of filthy teeth and septic
gums. A complete clearance of such teeth is the only effective treatment. The
general health of these mothers improves immediately this is done, even before
dentures are fitted to replace the extracted teeth.
The second group comprises mothers between the ages of 18 and 35 years.
Some of these mothers show evidence of dental treatment from the school dentist.
These are most encouraging cases, as, with a few stoppings and general scaling
and cleaning, their mouths can be made efficient and healthy. Here I would
point out that the extra session held on Mondays is most useful and of the utmost
value. At this session I arrange appointments for selected cases and carry out
conservative work which time does not permit of doing at the ordinary Thursday
session.
I have been particularly struck by the large amount of ' 'tartar'' deposited
on the teeth. This, I think, is due to errors in cooking and feeding.