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51
SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
Throughout this year all the dental staff worked under even more difficult
conditions than in 1969. There has been a very severe lack of dental surgery
assistants, placing a heavy strain on the remainder and on dental officers and
auxiliaries. The London Borough of Hackney as the employing authority agreed
to place the surgery assistants on another pay scale with a view to improving
quality as well as quantity. It is not generally realised that to be of any use
to the service the sort of person required in a surgery must have all the
qualities necessary for clerical work plus the added qualities of understanding
the problems relating to dental surgery and to patients, to be able to deal with
them in a cheerful, hygenic, and industrious way. It is therefore essential
that they be paid more and not less than general duty clerks.
During the year many visitors from all over the world, including Cyprus,
Sweden, Ceylon, Goa, New Guinea, India and Malaysia came to see the school
dental service in Hackney.
The school and other priority dental services share staff and premises and
so everything concerning these aspects relates to both services but the
statistics relate only to dental care of school children. Accounts of dentistry
for the mentally handicapped, pre-school children and expectant and nursing
mothers will be found elsewhere in this report.
Because of the ever increasing cost of running a good dental service a central
supplies system has been instituted for certain consumable items. Not only is
this saving money for the Authority due to bulk purchases, but it has speeded
up the interval between dentists ordering goods and their arrival in the surgery.
STAFF
At the end of the year there was a staff, including Principal School Dental
Officer, Orthodontist and Senior Dental Officer, of 10full-time and 10 Sessional
Dental Officers, making a full time equivalent of 13.3 within an establishment
of 16. We thus had quite a high rate of recruiting staff, many of whom were
quite young. This is the only way to ensure maintenance of high standards.
In addition to the dental surgeons there are two dental auxiliaries. These
are invaluable additions to the team of ancillary workers helping the dental
officers, both in the realms of dental health education and in clinical
treatment of young children.
There were 11 dental surgery assistants within an establishment of 16.
In addition tothe vacancies many of those in post have been with the Department
for only a very short time, and certainly cannot be regarded as trained. In an
attempt to improve this situation four dental surgery assistants were encouraged
to go to evening classes in order to study for the National Certificate for
Dental Surgery Assistants. In addition they have an in-service tutorial on one
afternoon a week. By this means it is hoped to ensure that some of the younger
workers stay with the service.
The surgery at Geffrye School for physically handicapped children continues
to be a great success with children, parents and school staff. It certainly
shows the value of having a surgery within the school premises as it is most
difficult for these children to be transported elsewhere for treatment. It
allows a closer working relationship between the school doctor, dentist and
nurse with subsequent benefit to the child. One surgery in the Borough is used
by the orthodontist and another is shared between the auxiliaries, leaving the
other thirteen for general dental care. Evening sessions continued to be very
popular with children who are coming up towards public examinations as they
often do not wish to take time off from school during the day; also amongst
working mothers who are unable to come with their off-spring during the
day.