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36
Thus, 77.6 per cent required treatment; 5 were not offered treatment as
tney already nad a dental practitioner.
As a result of these observations it was decided to attempt treatment for as
many of the trainees aspossiDle. An Inner London Education Authority moDile dental
clinic was tnerefore taken to the Hackney and Millfields centres. Although better
tnan nothing, the occasional use of such caravans is not conducive to good regular
dental care. Some of the trainees from Homerton have been treated at the Wick
Maternal and Child Healtn Centre. A large numDer of trainees were treated, tne
majority of whom nad not previously had any dental care other than massive destruction.
In tnese cases routine dental procedures nave Deen used. However,
if all the trainees are to oe treated, consideration will have to De given m
the future to providing facilities for treatment under general anaesthesia,
preferaoly in a purpose-built surgery witnin one of the training centres.
Because of the vast amount of oral disease, consideration has also been
given to possiole metnods of preventive care. As a start parents of the
children at Hackney and Millfields centres were asked to complete a questionnaire
and 67 kindly did so. Tne results were as follows:-
NumDer never been to a dentist 17
Numoer of children who had had teeth extracted 35
Number of children wno had had a filling 15
Number receiving regular treatment 20
Number of parents who felt treatment was needed
out had done nothing about it 31
Number of children who clean their teeth daily 41
Number of children who rarely or never clean their
teetn 24
At the ensuing dental inspection the following results were observed:-
Number of mouths found to be dirty 38
Numoer with gums in an unhealthy condition 36
Numoer of children needing fillings 46
A total of 129 decayed teeth were found, 35 of which needed to oe extracted.
It was also ooserved that twice as many teeth had previously been extracted than
had been filled.
The evidence thus points to the necessity for the provision of some means
of preventing oral disease, as well as for treating it. It is intended that, in
the near future, simple dental health education will be given to the older trainees.
In addition, it is hoped that a dental auxiliary will spend part of each
week polishing tne teeth of some of the trainees and then applying preventive
solutions.
Mental Health Week
During Mental Health Week held in June both the junior and senior training
centres were opened to tne general public and exhibitions of the work done in
these Centres were arranged.
Future Plans
In order to cope with the increasing demand for accommodation both for
mentally ill andmentally handicapped persons the Council negotiated the purchase
of tne Territorial Army Association Drill Hall in Albion Road and the purchase
and cost of adaptions have oeen included in the building programme for
1968/69. It is hoped that tne Centre when adapted, will provide accommodation
for 60 psychiatric patients and 100 adult mentally handicapped persons.