School dental services—The Lizard's tail

Abstract

FROM THE earliest days of the 'School Medical Service, the condition of children's teeth has been investigated by local authority medical staff, and the development of the School Dental Service has been :-nore its expansion and technical advance than its attitude towards fundamental factors. Since it began there has been a tremendous change public opinion regarding dental treatment for school children, which has been reflected both the attitude of the central an~t local authorities and the amount:of money provided by them for the service. ltistory Developments a schools' service first occurred around 1870 wIlen dentists were appoin ted to such public schools as Marlborough, Haileybury, Wellington, Felsted and Mill Hill. The idea of systematic inspection of children's teeth was therefore beginning to take shape the great independent foundations. By 1898 a few dentists were w, orking a small way a number of Poor Law Schools and Institutions, but met with much opposition. At-the turn of the century a trio of fashionable private practitioners, Wallace, Thomson and greese~ produced a programme of Dental Health Education and instituted the scheme at their own expense in the face of sublime apathy and ignorance not only on the part of the poor, but of doctors and public men and women: The true value of regular dental care was driven home at the start of the Boer War when 2451 British troops were invalided home as a result of oral infections. The War Office commenced advertising temporary positions for dental surgeons at the front, the first to be appointed being Mr Newland Pedley, Dental Surgeon to Guy's Hospital. The workhouse children were the great reservoir for the services and the necessity for dental treatment to keep the potential recruit physically fit was emphasized by the newlyrfor~ed School Dentist's Society. School Dental Treatment