School Dental Services

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30540, 8 September 1964, Page 14

School Dental Services

Sir, —I was interested in your articles on school dental services. It seems that at times our children are not receiving this treatment free. Who decides what a dental nurse is able to do in the way of treatment? To quote two cases. The nurse extracted a bad second double molar in a child and yet another child who only needed a baby tooth removed as the permanent tooth was erupting over it, was refused. This child had to travel over 70 miles to a dentist and pay 10s 6d to have the baby tooth removed in a matter of minutes.—Yours, etc., ANNOYED MOTHER.

August 30, 1964. [The acting principal dental officer (Mr G. R. Ritchie) replies: “In the main, specialist work, which in children is mainly orthodontic work, is not covered by the dental benefits scheme. School dental nurses are given an intensive two-year course of training which enables them to carry out the examination of children’s mouths and dental health education, the routine filling of carious teeth, and extractions. However, the extractions are normally limited to those teeth which have been destroyed by dental caries. Other extractions, such as, those teeth removed for orthodontic reasons to alleviate crowding of teeth, or to allow other teeth to take their place, are not carried out by the dental nurse unless at the specific request of a dental surgeon. This type of treatment (orthodontics) is not undertaken by the dental nurse as she is trained to recognise such problems only, and refer them promptly to a dentist.-* Although the actual extraction of such a tooth may often be a simple procedure, a qualified dentist’s opinion is required, as the mere removal of the tooth is very often not the complete solution to the problem. In the two cases mentioned by the correspondent, the dental nurse did what was expected of her. In the first case she extracted a badly decayed tooth, and in the second she referred a problem outside her scone to a qualified dentist. The latter treatment, being of a specialist nature, is not covered by the Social Security (Dental Benefits) Regulations, and therefore the parent would have to meet the cost of the dentist’s advice and treatment.”]