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51
SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
The main features of the year's work were the intensive efforts to inspect
every child at school and on the treatment side the successful achievement of
increasing the ratio of teeth filled to teeth extracted.
Several visitors came during the year. These included Professor H. Kopel
from America, whose visit formed part of a tour during tenure of a World
Health Organisation Fellowship to study dentistry for handicapped children.
Dr. E. O'Brien Moran, Chairman of the Dental Health Committee of the Irish
Association visited the dental health exhibition, as did many visitors from
the surrounding area and from the Department of Health and Social Security.
Staff and premises are shared between the school and other priority dental
services, so that everything concerning these aspects relates to both services.
The statistics only relate to school children. Reports on dentistry for preschool
children, expectant and nursing mothers, and the mentally handicapped,
will be found on pages 23 and 37.
The staff, excluding the Principal School Dental Officer, consisted of 9
full-time and 9 sessional dental officers, plus one dental auxiliary, making
the full-time equivalent of 14.6 within an establishment of 15. This was an
increase of 3.3 since 1967. which is particularly pleasing at a time when other
authorities are having great difficulty in recruiting staff. The average age
of full-time dental officers was 46.8 (53 in 1967) and sessional dental officers
39.5 years (41). The overall average was 43 (50). This reduction was obtained
in spite of the fact that none of the older dental officers had retired and
thus indicated that with increased standards and scope of the service in
Hackney, younger dentists are more than willing to join us.
Two sessional dentists became full-time and a third full-time dental officer
and a dental auxiliary have been appointed. The latter has proved to be particularly
useful in caring for very young children. One dental officer was promoted to
senior dental officer with special responsibility for the care of the handicapped.
There were 19 dental surgery assistants, three of whom were permanently
assigned to Executive Council surgeries. 4 of the 15 hold the National Certificate
for Dental Surgery Assistants. One is a state registered nurse and one
is a state enrolled nurse. Two, in the school dental service, are designated
as Dental Surgery Assistants/Clerks as they carry a heavy clerical load. One
of these helps the Principal School Dental Officer with both his clinical and
clerical work, making for maximum utilisation of his time and releasing him to
treat patients as well as administer the service. The second acts as a spare
chairside assistant, and also carries out much of the clerical work relating
to school dental inspections. Between them they have done a great deal to
iron out any previous difficulties, which has led to increased efficiency and
better relations with head teachers. Without such assistance the Principal
School Dental Officer would be completely desk-bound. Once again the point
must be made that because of the low national rates of pay for these women,
great difficulty is experienced in filling vacancies when they occur. This
could eventually lead to a complete collapse of the service.
Informal staff meetings have been held on two occasions in order to
discuss the working and progress of the service. During part of the year the
Principal School Dental Officer attended the London Hospital Dental School for
one session a week. This was very useful, not only to maintain his standard
of knowledge at a high level, but also to keep contact with the constant stream
of qualified students. The Principal School Dental Officer attended the annual
conference of the British Dental Association and towards the end of the year
attended the post graduate course in Dental Public Health organised by the
University of London Dental Teaching Schools. Other dental officers attended
a large variety of lectures and courses. Courses in dental radiography have
been attended by all new dental surgery assistants. Both the London Borough
of Hackney and the Inner London Education Authority are to be thanked for
helping to maintain their dental officers at such a high standard of knowledge.