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22
Children
The three-year-old birthday card scheme is now fully in operation.
It appears to be very effective in bringing in more children for oral
examination. The number inspected was over three times as great as in
1970. Inspection of children at day nurseries has continued on a twiceyearly
basis.

Although 21% of these children needed some form of care much of it
was of a preventive nature, especially against gum disease. It is of
special interest to compare children with good oral cleanliness against
those with dirty teeth.
Clean Teeth
Dirty Teeth
Percentage with no decay or fillings 40.9 16.7
Average number of decayed teeth 0.82 2.79
Percentage requiring treatment 14.8 62.5
Without the slightest element of doubt this shows the value of
good oral hygiene. With this in mind one of the Senior Dental Officers
is commencing a dental health scheme in co-operation with a day nursery
matron.
There were 451 more attendances for treatment than in 1970. 46.1%
of the children were made dentally fit (44.7 in 1970). 19.1% of
appointments were failed (21% in 1970). The ratio of teeth filled to
teeth extracted rose from 14.4:1, to 16:1. This is extremely good
but it must be remembered that it takes much more time and effort to
fill teeth rather than to take them out, especially for young children.
Therefore the total productivity of fillings per session falls,
although the children receive a much higher standard of care. This
must be remembered when any form of statistical assessment of a service
such as this is attempted.
Mothers
There has been a slight rise in the number of attendances. The
ratio of teeth filled to extracted has risen to 6.1:1 (4.8:1 in 1970).
Over 30% of appointments were not kept, a shocking waste of time.