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70
The number of children who required and accepted treatment,
and could not be seen in 1923, was 700. Thus these cases have
to be treated in 1924, before the work proper for the year can be
commenced, and this work will occupy at least three or four
months. This is one important reason for the appointment of at
least one more dental surgeon, which has been urged in all former
reports.
The backbone of school dental work is preventive dentistry,
the education of the parents and children in dental hygiene and
the importance of mastication and suitable diet. The parents
often mistake the first permanent molars for temporary teeth, and
in their ignorance give them the corresponding amount of attention.
It is a great loss for a child to be deprived of its first
permanent molars, as its full power of mastication is lessened for
the rest of its life. This preventive work cannot be accomplished
to the full, until another dental surgeon is added to the staff.
The accommodation of the Dental Clinic is still restricted to
two small rooms in the basement of the Town Hall, which are
badly lighted, badly ventilated, and very unhealthy to work in
the whole day through. It is very unsatisfactory that children
should wait in an unhealthy waiting room and then come into a
badly ventilated surgery, where it is quite a common thing for
them to faint. It is also discouraging that the Dental Nurse and
myself should work by artificial light and in these unhealthy conditions,
more especially as work is occasionally hampered and
interrupted by floods in the surgery.
In this connection I beg to draw your attention to the
following extracts from Sir George Newman's Report, having
reference to the conditions of a satisfactory dental scheme.
"The accommodation proposed for a dental clinic should
include as a minimum (a) a play-room or waiting-room, (b) an
operating room (with good north light), (c) a small rinsing room,
which can be used also for recovery after the administration of an
anaesthetic."
"With the development of the scheme it will, of course, be
necessary for Local Education Authorities to review their provision
in order to secure that the dental staff is adequate to meet the
extension of their duties. The aim of the School Dental Service
should be to secure that as many children as possible shall leave
school free from dental disease, and trained in the care of the
teeth."
The work has been accomplished in such a manner as to
reduce pain to a minimum, local anaesthetics being employed for
all extractions, except in those cases where it is not advisable
when a general anaesthetic has been administered. Whenever possible,
teeth, both temporary and permament, have been filled in
order to preserve them for their maximum service.
The fact that the Clinic is expeditiously and smoothly run
in spite of serious handicaps, is in no small measure due to the
patience, tact and perseverance of Miss Olifent, the Dental Nurse