[Report 1949] / School Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.
- Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1949
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1949] / School Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![104S Average number of Attendances per treatment session . . . 6.4 6.5 Average numl)er of Fillings per treat¬ ment session . . . . 3.0 2.7 Average number of IFxtractions per treatment session . . . 4.8 4.3 Orthodontic treatment has been maintained at about the same level as last year. The amount of time necessary for this specialised branch of dentistry is considerable so that the numher of sessions devoted to this work and hence the number of cases which can be undertaken has to be limited if the other work of the Clinics is not io suffer. At the end of the year there were 26 cases under treatment, 27 appliances were supplied and there were 261 attendances for their fitting and adjustment. Again 1 have to thank Mr. WAlpole-Day and Mrs. Davis of the Orthodontic Department of the Iffimingham Dental Hospital for their continued help and advice. During the year 17 dentures were supplied to replace front teeth lost through accident or gross caries. In one case, a girl C'f 14 years was supplied with a full upper denture. She had recently come to reside in the Torough and was found on examination to have 5 teeth remaining in the upper jawy 2 of which were carious. Repairs were carried out to 5 dentures. A Kingsway X-Ray unit has been installed at the Cape Hill Clinic, and although only 2 patients were found to require X-Ray examination, the( resultant diagnosis enabled the appropriate treatment to l)e given without delay. It will prove a valuable diagnostic aid in cases where the dental condition cannot be assessed accurately by clinical examination alone There is little evidence that many school children arc receiving regular dental treatment through the General Dental Services under the National Health Service Act, although in a small number of cases, emergency treatment has been given. In general, the private practitioner prefers to refer children to the Clinics. There has been a slight drop in the number of Specials or Casuals sent to the Clinics during the year—1,216 against 1,385 in 1948, but the reason is more likely to be the increase in the number of school ins]:>ections rather than any great drift to the ])rivate practitioner. In conclusion, I again should like to express the thanks of the Dental Officers to the Medical. Nursing, and Clerical staffs of the School and Public Health Services and to Head Teachers and their staffs for the valuable help and assistance they hav(‘ given during the year. GIT). J. S. LITTLIHHELD, Senior Dent id Offieer.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30091561_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
