[Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Burnley County Borough.
- Burnley (England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1909
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Burnley County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
38/42 (page 38)
![Education Report. As our medical inspection ])rogresses, these children with defective eyesight will be discovered Itefore they reach the leaving age, and therefore a fuller historv of the defect and its treatment should be available for future re])orts. As a result of the testing of vision in many other towns, and the results ap])ear to be pretty much the same in Burnley, a lower standard than has heretofore been accepted as necessary will have to be taken in future. Teeth.—Children on admission })resenting a perfect set of teeth were exceedingly rare, and of those leaving school 79 per cent, had some condition of the teeth that was thought to require attention. There is reason to believe that pretty nearly the same condition obtains amongst the majority of the school children of this country, as in Bui'idev, and that it is not at all confined to children of the poorer class but is if anything the reverse, the children of the lower or poorer classes having the better teeth. This condition of the teeth arises chiefly from lack of attention and want of cleanliness, the soft food on which the children are so commonly fed does not help to cleanse the teeth. Through lack of attention no advice is sought by the jiarents when the child suffers from toothache, which is looked upon as one of the ordinary ailments of childhood and has to be borne like measles, whoo[)ing cough, or other children’s diseases. If the parent at the first signs of any toothache were to seek advice much subsequent trouble through defective teeth would be avoided. The desirability or necessity for periodic insjiection of the teeth by a dentist, who could advise tlie parents as to the proper course to pursue is a matter for future consideration. A little expert advice to the parents of a child of four or five as to its teeth would be of immense value. Public Health Administration. The performance of the school nuxlical woi k by the Ihiblic' Health Authority ensures lliat there shall be no overlapping when any infectious disease is prevalent either among the school children or the rest of the population. The Medical Officer of Health being the School Medical Officer immediately lieconies aware of this jirevalence in school, and being Medical](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28965322_0038.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
