View report page

The continued success of the Dental Clinic is a tribute to the
work and popularity of the Dental Surgeon and the Anaesthetist.
By the kindly, skilful manner in which Dr. Montague Smith deals
with timid children and the nervous pregnant women treated at the
Clinic he does much to banish the dread of submitting to dental
treatment under anaesthesia.
The following is a Report by the Dental Surgeon:—
Report by H. C. Middleton, L.D.S., R.C.S. (Eclin.).
The work of the Dental Clinic was continued on the same general lines as
heretofore.
Missionary work is done at the Ante-Natal and Infant Welfare Centres and
by the Health Visitors in inducing the patients to regard the Dental Clinic rather
as a place where teeth are cared for and preserved than as a last resort leading
to wholesale extractions and dentures.
Children under school age still exhibit poorly-calcified and carious teeth.
When they come under my notice their teeth are already ruined.
During the year, the Deputy Dental Surgeon and I have been investigating
the underlying causes of the poor calcification of the teeth which predisposes the
enamel to caries. Certain progress has been made and preventive treatment
outlined and commenced. The care of the temporary teeth begins as early as
the eighth week of foetal life, and is continued until lactation has ceased. This
involves a goodly number of attendances, but if, at the age of five or six years,
children can be handed over to the care of the school dentist with good, sound
teeth, then the object of the dental clinic is achieved.
PROVISION OF MATERNITY HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION,
CONVALESCENT HOME TREATMENT
MIDWIFERY ASSISTANCE AND HOME HELPS.
Maternity Hospital Accommodation.—The Council pays the
sum of one guinea in respect of each necessitous person admitted
from the Borough for treatment at either of the under-mentioned