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Dental Health Education Program in the Public Schools of Belleville, Ill.
The Journal of the American Dental Association and The Dental Cosmos
302
DENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BELLEVILLE, ILL. By
J u l ia n
W.
S m it h ,
H E Belleville Public Schools are now entering on their eighth year of full-time supervised dental health education. O u r program is threefold in that we have inspection and education, and dispensary service for indigent chil dren. This supervision comprises nine schools, eight grade schools from kindergarten through the sixth grade and a junior high school o f seventh and eighth grades. In 1924, through the efforts o f the Belleville Dental Society, the board of education established a thoroughly equipped dispensary in the junior high school building, in which each member o f the dental society gave gratis an after noon o f service to the indigent children o f the schools. This work was continued for five years, and although we had evi dence o f a vast amount of good accom plished, we were not attaining the goal for which we were always striving, pre ventive dentistry. This we knew could be attained only by the education of the child in the importance of a clean and healthful mouth. This important phase was presented to the board of education, who readily saw the value to be received by Belleville school children. Therefore, in 1930, a full-time dental health education pro gram was installed, with a full-time supervisor. This program has been func tioning perfectly ever since. T h e educational program consists of various types of dental health education material, selected to correlate, as nearly as possible, with the subjects in the cur riculum. Each classroom, at the begin ning o f each semester, is given such material as the children in that room are
T
D .D.S., Belleville,
111.
capable of comprehending and absorb ing. Some of this material is individual or seat w o rk ; some is used as a classroom project. T o make this clearer, I will out line m y program for this year. In the kindergarten, we are using the health soldiers poster in a classroom p roject; in the first grade, the M ickey Mouse proj ect, consisting of honor roll, buttons and honor certificate; in the second grade, dental health leaflets; in the third grade, a puzzle project from the National Dairy C o u n cil; in the fourth grade, “ Happy Days with Jack and Joan” ; in the fifth grade, “ Play and Exercise in Different Countries,” with supplementary reading for the teacher on each poster; in the sixth grade, “ Answer Y ou r O w n Dental Questions” w h eel; in the junior high school, talks with lantern slides and movies. This work is supervised by class room visits, giving talks in the way of stories in the lower grades, talks with lantern slides for upper grades and mouth health plays. In addition to the school work, lectures are given to lay groups, such as the P.-T.A., civic clubs and women’s clubs. In our work in the dispensary last month, we worked for 157 children, and in this group we gave forty-four treat ments and nineteen prophylaxes; placed forty-one alloy fillings, fourteen copper cement and fifteen synthetic cement, and made two deciduous extractions. We found twenty-seven children needing no service after examination. During the year 1936-1937, we gave service to 642 children. The funds for this department are pro vided by the board of education, which also furnishes toothbrushes for all dis pensary patients.
Bureau of Public Relations Last year, Charles F. Deatherage, chief o f the Division o f Dental Health Education, made a survey of the schools, and after statistics of the findings were compiled, it was found that we were far below the state average in cavities per child. T h e economic evaluation of a dental health education program is o f vast im portance. A pupil cannot appropriate the ele ments o f an education while he is un comfortable. O w ing to the relief from dental suffering which the service in our dispensary has achieved in these last seven years, the number of repeaters was, without doubt, largely reduced. A survey of Illinois public school chil dren by E. H. Smith, of Libertyville, 111., has shown that 29.25 per cent o f repeat ing in the public schools of Illinois was from conditions directly attributable to dental disease. T o allow for any margin of difference in the case of the Belleville schools, we estimate, conservatively, that 10 per cent of those receiving dental care in the dispensary would have been re peaters without this dental care. W ith service given 642 children last year, 10 per cent o f that number, or 64,
3 °3
would have been grade repeaters with out this dental care, m ade possible by the board of education. T h e estimated cost o f educating a pupil in our school system during the year of 1936-1937 was $74.13. O n this basis, the total cost of reeducating these sixty-four pupils would have been $4,744.32. In other words, without the dental service in our schools, the board of education would have had an additional outlay of $4,744.32. However, the benefits to be derived from a dental health education program cannot be measured in dollars and cents. W e must think o f it in terms of improve ment of the dental health level o f the school children and the elimination of dental disease as a factor in scholastic failure. These children will have a brighter and happier outlook on life, and as future citizens will help to make the community a happier and healthier place in which to live. W e believe that our dental health edu cation program is a success and we attrib ute this success to the board of education, which is alert and cognizant of the need o f dental health in school children, and to our teaching staff for its excellent co operation.
FINDINGS IN SURVEYS* ON VINCENT’S INFECTION AND MOTTLED ENAMEL IN KANSAS V i n c e n t ’s i n f e c t i o n
survey on Vincent’s infection was made December 17, 1937, affording a cross-section o f the school children in a typical first class city, Coffeyville. Five hundred and two white children, 7-8 grades, Roosevelt Junior High School, and 350 colored children, grades 1-12, Cleveland and Douglass Schools, were examined. The clinical evidence was T h e
*Conducted by the Kansas State Board of Health, Division of Dental Hygiene; Leon R. Kramer, director.
checked by the examining dentists and rechecked by the director o f the division of dental hygiene, who also made smears. T h e smears were stained and interpreted on the premises by the director of the public health laboratory. O nly cases that gave definitely positive findings, both clinically and microscopically, were tabu lated as positive. Smears were made o f ev ery mouth. T h e findings are : White chil dren : negative, 59.3 per c e n t; indefinite, 32.5 per cent; positive microscopically, 17.1 per cent; positive microscopically
302
DENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BELLEVILLE, ILL. By
J u l ia n
W.
S m it h ,
H E Belleville Public Schools are now entering on their eighth year of full-time supervised dental health education. O u r program is threefold in that we have inspection and education, and dispensary service for indigent chil dren. This supervision comprises nine schools, eight grade schools from kindergarten through the sixth grade and a junior high school o f seventh and eighth grades. In 1924, through the efforts o f the Belleville Dental Society, the board of education established a thoroughly equipped dispensary in the junior high school building, in which each member o f the dental society gave gratis an after noon o f service to the indigent children o f the schools. This work was continued for five years, and although we had evi dence o f a vast amount of good accom plished, we were not attaining the goal for which we were always striving, pre ventive dentistry. This we knew could be attained only by the education of the child in the importance of a clean and healthful mouth. This important phase was presented to the board of education, who readily saw the value to be received by Belleville school children. Therefore, in 1930, a full-time dental health education pro gram was installed, with a full-time supervisor. This program has been func tioning perfectly ever since. T h e educational program consists of various types of dental health education material, selected to correlate, as nearly as possible, with the subjects in the cur riculum. Each classroom, at the begin ning o f each semester, is given such material as the children in that room are
T
D .D.S., Belleville,
111.
capable of comprehending and absorb ing. Some of this material is individual or seat w o rk ; some is used as a classroom project. T o make this clearer, I will out line m y program for this year. In the kindergarten, we are using the health soldiers poster in a classroom p roject; in the first grade, the M ickey Mouse proj ect, consisting of honor roll, buttons and honor certificate; in the second grade, dental health leaflets; in the third grade, a puzzle project from the National Dairy C o u n cil; in the fourth grade, “ Happy Days with Jack and Joan” ; in the fifth grade, “ Play and Exercise in Different Countries,” with supplementary reading for the teacher on each poster; in the sixth grade, “ Answer Y ou r O w n Dental Questions” w h eel; in the junior high school, talks with lantern slides and movies. This work is supervised by class room visits, giving talks in the way of stories in the lower grades, talks with lantern slides for upper grades and mouth health plays. In addition to the school work, lectures are given to lay groups, such as the P.-T.A., civic clubs and women’s clubs. In our work in the dispensary last month, we worked for 157 children, and in this group we gave forty-four treat ments and nineteen prophylaxes; placed forty-one alloy fillings, fourteen copper cement and fifteen synthetic cement, and made two deciduous extractions. We found twenty-seven children needing no service after examination. During the year 1936-1937, we gave service to 642 children. The funds for this department are pro vided by the board of education, which also furnishes toothbrushes for all dis pensary patients.
Bureau of Public Relations Last year, Charles F. Deatherage, chief o f the Division o f Dental Health Education, made a survey of the schools, and after statistics of the findings were compiled, it was found that we were far below the state average in cavities per child. T h e economic evaluation of a dental health education program is o f vast im portance. A pupil cannot appropriate the ele ments o f an education while he is un comfortable. O w ing to the relief from dental suffering which the service in our dispensary has achieved in these last seven years, the number of repeaters was, without doubt, largely reduced. A survey of Illinois public school chil dren by E. H. Smith, of Libertyville, 111., has shown that 29.25 per cent o f repeat ing in the public schools of Illinois was from conditions directly attributable to dental disease. T o allow for any margin of difference in the case of the Belleville schools, we estimate, conservatively, that 10 per cent of those receiving dental care in the dispensary would have been re peaters without this dental care. W ith service given 642 children last year, 10 per cent o f that number, or 64,
3 °3
would have been grade repeaters with out this dental care, m ade possible by the board of education. T h e estimated cost o f educating a pupil in our school system during the year of 1936-1937 was $74.13. O n this basis, the total cost of reeducating these sixty-four pupils would have been $4,744.32. In other words, without the dental service in our schools, the board of education would have had an additional outlay of $4,744.32. However, the benefits to be derived from a dental health education program cannot be measured in dollars and cents. W e must think o f it in terms of improve ment of the dental health level o f the school children and the elimination of dental disease as a factor in scholastic failure. These children will have a brighter and happier outlook on life, and as future citizens will help to make the community a happier and healthier place in which to live. W e believe that our dental health edu cation program is a success and we attrib ute this success to the board of education, which is alert and cognizant of the need o f dental health in school children, and to our teaching staff for its excellent co operation.
FINDINGS IN SURVEYS* ON VINCENT’S INFECTION AND MOTTLED ENAMEL IN KANSAS V i n c e n t ’s i n f e c t i o n
survey on Vincent’s infection was made December 17, 1937, affording a cross-section o f the school children in a typical first class city, Coffeyville. Five hundred and two white children, 7-8 grades, Roosevelt Junior High School, and 350 colored children, grades 1-12, Cleveland and Douglass Schools, were examined. The clinical evidence was T h e
*Conducted by the Kansas State Board of Health, Division of Dental Hygiene; Leon R. Kramer, director.
checked by the examining dentists and rechecked by the director o f the division of dental hygiene, who also made smears. T h e smears were stained and interpreted on the premises by the director of the public health laboratory. O nly cases that gave definitely positive findings, both clinically and microscopically, were tabu lated as positive. Smears were made o f ev ery mouth. T h e findings are : White chil dren : negative, 59.3 per c e n t; indefinite, 32.5 per cent; positive microscopically, 17.1 per cent; positive microscopically