[Report 1924] / School Medical Officer of Health, Lowestoft Borough.

  • Lowestoft (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1924] / School Medical Officer of Health, Lowestoft Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    when they possess one are unable to use it satisfactorily. This not only leads to the continual blocking up of the nose, which, therefore, becomes the seat of constant infection, but also leads to mouth breathing, which is very harmful to the child's throat and lungs, and is the cause in later years of chronic Bronchitis and chest complaints. I therefore strongly recommend the Committee to ask Head Teachers of all Infants' Schools and Departments to give ten minutes or a quarter of an hour each morning to instruction in nose drill and breathing exercises. I understand that such is carried out in some of our Infant Departments, but I should like a reminder to go to every school to impress upon the teachers the importance of this lesson for the benefit of the health of the children. You fully approved of my suggestions and directed that a copy of the report should be sent to all head teachers in infant schools, and permission was given to obtain a supply of paper handkerchiefs for necessitous cases. Dental Detects. Of the 875 cases referred by the dentist for treat¬ ment only 253 actually received treatment. This is a slightly larger percentage than last year, but is still very poor. Parents do not realise the importance of attending to the teeth. I have spoken to Mr. Britten, the School Dentist, on the subject, and we intend to draw up, at an early date, a notice dealing in simple terms with the importance of good teeth and attention to the teeth, which will be given to each child, who requires treatment, to take home to its parents. This year, as recommended by Mr. Britten, the Committee raised the age groups from 7 to 10 years, and it is satisfactory to note that approximately only half the number of temporary teeth, and almost three times as many permanent teeth were filled as compared with last year. Regarding extractions under Nitrous Oxide Gas, the attendances have been quite good, and the circular which I detailed in last year's report has proved most useful. Open Air Education. There is no open air school in the district ; the only open air education being comparatively few classes held in the playgrounds in the summer. In reference to the delicate children, in the area,Table 3, one finds that there are approx. 100 such children, and it is very obvious that there is a great demand for an open air school where attention could be given to their physical well-being, nutrition and rest—three factors which form an important part of open air school curriculum.