[Report 1945] / School Medical Officer of Health, Manchester.
- Manchester (England). Council.
- Date:
- 1945
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1945] / School Medical Officer of Health, Manchester. Source: Wellcome Collection.
16/44 page 16
![reparative side of the dental work, 9,037 fillings among 11,736 childrer in 1945 as compared with 7,968 among 14,509 children in 1944 here again an improvement in the ratio is expected as the Committee’: plans for a fuller dental scheme come into operation. It will be seen that the average number of children treated per denta j officer during the year was 2,253, but it must be borne in mind thal 32% of the children treated were for emergency treatment only, ancl when every child is given complete treatment, this figure will ver probably decrease. In addition to the dental work for part of Primary and Secondarl School population, the school dental surgeons visited all the Nurser Schools, Nursery Classes and War-time Nurseries. 3,141 infants wet examined, of which 862 were found to be in need of treatment ; c I this latter number, 228 actually attended the clinics for treatment This represents an abnormally low acceptance rate of 30%, for whic.j an explanation has been sought. It would appear that (a) The dental defects noted in many children had not reached til painful stage, with the result that parents tended to defer treaj ment out of a mistaken idea of kindness to the child. (b) The parents of some children were not able to secure the necessa I free time from their work to take them to the dental clinics. The first of these should be overcome by educative measures, and tiI latter it is hoped to meet by the eventual provision of more convenient I situated dental clinics. It was reported by the Committee’s dental surgeons that freque requests were being received from parents for orthodontic treatme (correction of irregularity of the teeth) for their children at the schc clinics. From previous statistics it was possible to compute that abc 17% of the school population in Manchester suffered from some foi of dental irregularity, but as the complete and willing co-operation both child and parent is essential to successful orthodontic treatme statistical returns to assess the actual demands were compiled. T information received proved the existence of the demand, and I pleased to be able to report that the Committee’s scheme for t provision of orthodontic treatment should become operative during t coming year. ADRIAN G. BATTEN. THE ORTHOPAEDIC CLINIC This clinic is under the direction and supervision of E. D. Telfo]* I Esq., f.r.c.s., the Committee’s Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, a has contributed fis share towards the treatment of School Children far as its limited staff would allow. The resignations of the princi Physiotherapist and also of one of the members of the staff h: interfered with the volume of work.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2992781x_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
