The Ely miner., 1921-10-21
HEALTH BULLETIN /:
CITY OF ELY
by OWEN w. PARKER. NJ D..
Health Commissioner I

The following extract entitled
"Orai or Mouth Hygiene" is taken
from a paper written by DR.. w. A:
Howe. State Medical Inspector of
schools of New York State, en-
titled "Sehoo Health Service In
New York State. This extract is
of interest to the people of Ely
because of the Dental Clinic that
is to be established in the public
schools here. Following is the
extract:
Oral Hygiene.
AS a state school health endeav-
er. all work in this line is con-
Quoted through the Department of
Education under the direction of
a full-time oral hygiene Inspector.
At the present time about fifty
cities and villages have established
some form of dental service for
school children. All degrees of
service are offered, ranging from
mere examination and recon-
mendation to the parents that cor
rections be made, to the most
complete dental restorations and
oral surgical operations. A num-
Der of schools have very complete
dentist on part or full-time ser
vice. In such clinics all emergen-
CIV work is cared for. Some &c
gratuitous reparative work only for
the really needy, while others
make a small charge. About 4OO
dentists throughout the state have
designated Children's Service Hours,
when free or nearly free service
D i L. "a. 30 la.
serving cases. The great scarcity
of dentists available for oral ny
giene as well as the inadvlsabllty
of depending upon corrective meas
ures is being successfully met IN
few localities by the employ
ment of dental hygienists. These
young women trained in oral ny
giene Systematically clean the
teeth of the children once or twice
year, carefully chart dental de
fects found and instruct the pupils
in dental cleanliness. Badly neg
lected cases are often followed to
the home where further instruction
is given to parents who are fire.
quently induced to give proper at
tention to existing dental defects.
Dental hygienists are also quall-
fed to carry on an important part
of the health educational work by
personal talks to teachers and to
pupils, by schoolroom lectures, by
toothbrush drills and by demon
strations.
This phase of our work is grow
ing rapidly in favor and will in
time prove of even greater assist
ance in dealing with the great
problem of dental health. The
hygienist is also of material assist
ance in the spreading of know
ledge of cause and effect, and the
real benefits of preventive denta
measures She assists in placing
the responsibility of prevention
and correction of defects and the
maintenance of oral cleanliness:
where it rightfully belongs, in thc
home. Like the school nurse, she
does much to bring the school anc
the home into closer cooperative
relation with each other.
In some of the larger places
especially where considerable
percentage of more or less de
pendent children attend school, the
combined services of dentist anC
hygienist are securing splendid re
suits.
Several counties of the state
are providing dental education and
care for their smaller rural dis
tricts by means of a mobile outfit
This is equipped with one or more
dentists and hygienists who &c
from place to place giving such
services as seem advisable.
In all of this work the depart.
ment aims to assist and advise in
every way possible. Standard ex-
animation blanks, record forms
educational literature and stereop-
ton slides are available from the
State Department of Education
Lectures are given to the normal
schools and to teachers confer
ences. Members of the Oral Hy-
giene Committee of the State
Dental Society have given many
of these lectures and have cooper
ated with us in many ways in oul
oral hygiene work in schools. This
cooperative activity among dentists
dental societies and school authori-
ties is indispensable to accomplish
the best results.