[Report 1931] / Medical Officer of Health, Bury County Borough.

  • Bury (Greater Manchester, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1931] / Medical Officer of Health, Bury County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/36 (page 24)
    Report of the Dental Inspection and Treatment of School Children. Hv C. A. JOHNSTON, L.D.S. 'I'lic Report of tlie School Dental Clinic for the year 193.1 shows it to be firmly established as a very important and increasingly popular branc'h of the School Medical Service. 'Phe pj'oblem of the poor condition of the children’s teeth is one which gives the School Medical Service cause for great con- cern. As many Infections gain entrance to the bodv bv way of the mouth, it can be readily appreciated that a healthy condition of the mouth and teeth is one of the greatest safeguards ag'ainst ill-health. .As stated in the Report of last year, it was considered that too much time was being' devoted to the conservative treatment of temporary teeth, making* it very difficult for the older children to receive routine treatment. To overcome this diffic'ulty active con- servation of lhcs.e teeth has been discontinued this year, and ('hildren of ]] and 12 years of age have been inc'luded in school inspections. It is now encourag'ing' to note, once again, a considerable decrease in the percentage of children with defective teeth, there being- 74.G per cent, as compared with 83.4 per cent, for last year, a decrease of 8.8 per cent. When it is remembered that in 1928, the first }-ear of the Clinic in the Borough, the percentage of dentally defective children was 94.3, the progress made must be considered remarkable, as it shows a decrease of 20 per cent, in the short space of three \ ears. The total number of children examined during the year was 4,580, including Specials, and of this number 3,418 were found to I'cquire treatment. The time devoted to inspections was 37 half- days and to treatment 345 half-da}’s, during whic'h time 2,318 children were actually treated and the number of attendances at the Clinic was 3,145. Twenty-one general and 1,783 local anaesthetics were administered.