[Report 1925] / School Medical Officer of Health, Wolverhampton County Borough.

  • Wolverhampton (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1925] / School Medical Officer of Health, Wolverhampton County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    As regards the general practitioner, the majority do not claim to be specialists in this department of work ; moreover, the necessary continuity of treatment that is prevented at the Hospital by the require¬ ment of notes is equally prevented in private practice by the call for payment. As deafness is such an economic handicap in life and as otorrhcea is a condition fraught with danger of brain trouble, the present inad¬ equacy of facilities for suitable treatment of these cases is an urgent matter, and at present constitutes a weak spot in the arrangements of the School Medical Service.—J.M.B.” (h)—Excellent work was performed at the Dental Clinic last year (Table IY, page 36). Dental Inspection in our Schools origin¬ ally commenced with children aged six to eight years. When the examination of these had been completed it was found possible to extend the examinations towards the age of nine years whilst still dealing with the six to eight year group. Obviously there is a limit, however, to the amount that can be accomplished by one Den¬ tal Surgeon ; during the year that limit was reached, with the result that some hundreds of children whose mouths have been ren¬ dered dentally sound will now be relegated, annually, to the condi¬ tion of dental neglect from which they were temporarily rescued by the help of the Dental Clinic. This is not sound economy. If we are to proceed scientifically with our Scheme of Preventive Dentistry the improvement secured in the Dental Hygiene of the youngest children should he maintained by dental supervision during the rest of their school lives. It would in fact be difficult to over-estimate the benefit to health that would accrue from a satisfactory condition of Dental Hygiene so maintained. This is where our Scheme of Preventive Dentistry at present falls short. The Scheme is well begun, but is incomplete ; the foundations of the fabric of Dental Hygiene are being rendered sound, whilst the rest of the structure is being allowed to fall into decay. The Committee, however, is quite awake to the necessity for a progressive scheme of treatment. Proposals made with the object of meeting the above-mentioned re¬ quirements have already been approved by them and forwarded to the Board, whence the encouragement of a progressive Scheme emanated, and with whom the responsibility now rests. Mr. Bett, reporting on the work of his Department during the year, says :
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