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13
waiting room. This communicates direct with the Consulting
Room where treatment is carried out.
On the days selected for extractions, the process is reversed.
The children to be treated enter by the main door, wait in the
main hall at a considerable distance from the consulting room,
and after treatment pass into the rinsing room and out by the side
entrance. In this way children waiting for treatment do not come
into contact with those who have been operated upon. The
arrangements made have worked excellently.
As this is the first year in which dental inspection and treatment
has been undertaken by the Committee, the work being
commenced after the summer holidays, special reference may not be
out of place.
In the first place the Committee will be interested to know
that out of 150 authorities in England and Wales which have
instituted a dental clinic, there are only 20 districts having a
school population of the same size or less which have undertaken
this work, and it may also be noted that with one exception
Twickenham is the smallest place in England and Wales where
treatment for adenoids and enlarged tonsils, defects of vision,
dental disease and X-ray treatment for ringworm are carried out at
the expense of the Local Education Authority.
It is intended that the Dental Surgeon shall visit the schools in
rotation, and a commencement was made at the Trafalgar Schools
Infants' Department, the procedure being as follows:—
Every child between the ages of six and eight years was examined,
and a record taken of each mouth and a note of any treatment
required. On each occasion the school nurse accompanied the
dentist and by marking the cards at his dictation a considerable
saving of time was effected. These record cards were then
returned to the Health Department from whence a letter was sent to
the parent or guardian drawing attention to the conditions found
and offering, if necessary, assisted treatment.