[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Oxfordshire County Council.

  • Oxfordshire (England). County Council. n 81006935.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Oxfordshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/76 (page 8)
    It is apparent, however, that people do not mind having rotten teeth, nor are they unduly worried about caries in their children. Nothing substantial has happened to change the present rate of deterioration. Surely it must be clear now that one cannot run a School Dental Service as a poor relation of the National Health Service Dental Service. The preservation of teeth in the young is important enough to make it desirable to bring the School Dental Service into National Health Service Dentistry. Time off to att«id the dentist for treatment in his surgery could take the place of the treatment in schools. Dentists in the National Health Service might come into schools to inspect and, with the progressive policy which the Special Services Board have adopted, of providing mobile clinics for dentistry, perhaps dentists from the National Health Service could be induced to labour therein. The barrier is inducement and the appropriate financial one will have to be made, so that National Health Service dentists do not get less money by caring for the teeth of the young than by fitting dentures to the aged. Modernisation of School Sanitation Systems Continued but slow progress was made in this field in 1958. The problems of the Church Controlled School are many, when it is faced with the considerable expenditure necessary for raiovating sanitary arrangements. However, one still meets the view, even among School Managers, that the earth closet is as fine an example of sanitary architecture as one could wish for. School Record Systems The Special Services Board approved in principle, in 1958, the centralisation of School Medical Records. The practical implementation of this would mean greatly increased efficiency and control of the School Health Service. Smoking and lAing Cancer A survey of the smoking habits of 8,332 schoolchildren, from 11 to 18 years’ old, was carried out at the end of 1957. It is only recently that the coding of the somewhat large number of questionnaires has been completed, owing to the pressures of short medical staffing and the Poliomyelitis Vaccination programme, and it should be possible to report on the survey very soon. This Annual Report was compiled before the Registrar General‘s Vital Statistics Return, due in May« An Appendix containing Vital Statistics will be provided, for insertion in the Report, as soon as these corrected figures become available. Statistical Tables covering the work of various sections in the Department are appended. I would, finally, express gratitude to the staff of the Health Department for their loyalty, support and hard work during a very busy year. P.W. BOTHWELL Acting County Medical Officer and Acting Principal School Medical Officer