[Report 1955] / School Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.

  • Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955] / School Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    are coming from. Ever since the Dentists Act of 1921 established the training of dental students on a basis comparable with that of medical students, recruitment to the dental profession has been consistently below replacement level. Now that 35 years have passed since the Act came into force the dentists who were practising at the time the Act was passed are now all approaching retiring age and there is indeed a crisis in dental man-power. The solution will not be easy and must inevitably involve some form of dilution possibly on similar lines to that operated in New Zealand where an ancillary worker, the dental nurse, is entrusted with a number of the simpler procedures at present being done by dentists in this country. It should be made clear that the term dental nurse used in this connection does not mean a dental attendant to assist the dentist, or even a dental hygienist, but someone with wider responsibilities who works only under the general super¬ vision of a qualified dentist. Whatever may be the eventual solution of this problem it is clear that for very many years dentists will be in very short supply. It is up to the local authorities to do what they can to attract a fair proportion of the limited dental man and woman- power to preventive dentistry. In addition all measures of dental health education and where appropriate treatment of the water by fluoridation to delay the onset of dental decay should be pressed forward. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. It is pleasing to note from the report of the Physical Education Organiser that swimming continues to play such an important part in the physical activities of our children, though one is sorry to see that the facilities for outdoor games are still regarded as very poor. The activities of such bodies as the National Playing Fields Association are warmly to be commended in that they press for a larger proportion of playing fields and running tracks to be made available out of the STAFF. Apart from the change in Principal School Medical Officer, there were only two major staff changes during the year. Immediately after Dr. Paul left Mr. G. H. Roe, the Secretary of the Public Health Department, retired ; the range of his administrative duties included the School Health Service and his unrivalled experience of the develop¬ ment of Smethwick and its health services made him difficult to replace. I have every confidence, however, in Mr. A. D. H. Ridpath, who was
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