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The School Dental Service also took part in the Hackney Field Day' , an
annual event in Clissold Park. The dental auxiliary and a D. S. A., put on a display
of models, posters and films in a marquee. Nearby was parked an I.L.E.A.
Mobile Dental Surgery. Here the Senior Dental Officer examined children's mouths,
those with clean teeth taking part in a Lucky Dip. In addition, childred having
their teeth polished in the surgery were given a prize. This provoked long
queues of children outside the mobile surgery throughout the day.
The Dental Section also took part in a general health education display put
on for Social Workers in Hackney, many of whom work for non-Council organisations.
The same display was then put on prior to a Council meeting at which
fluoridation was to be discussed.
THE YEARS 1965 TO 1969
This is an opportune moment to review the progress of the local authority
dental service since the re-organisation of the London Boroughs and the inception
of the I.L. E. A.
Graph 'A' shows how the pattern of inspections, attendances, fillings and
extractions has varied. The number of children examined being consistently high
since 1967. Attendances dropped during the first quarter of 1968, when a great
deal of surgery time was lost by dentists helping with the massive Healthy Teeth
for Hackney' campaign. The number of fillings has steadily risen but the most
spectacular advance is that 1,772 fewer teeth were extracted in 1969 than 1965.
This quite clearly shows the improved standards of the service, many more teeth
being filled rather than removed.
This is again shown by the graph 'B' , which indicates the ratio of teeth
filled to teeth extracted, both within the permanent and deciduous dentitions.
GRAPH 'A'
This shows how the number of children inspected, the number who have attended
for treatment, the number of fillings carried out and the number of teeth extracted,
have varied during the period 1965 to 1969.