DENTAL INSPECTION 



teeth. Again, Superintendent Verplanck of South Manchester, 

 Connecticut, reported in 1910* that only 25 per cent of the children 

 promoted at the end of the year had seriously defective teeth as 

 compared with 38 per cent of the non-promoted children. 



While such statistical evidence is not abundant, the data 

 which exist show consistently a relation between dental conditions 

 and mental ability. 



DENTAL INSPECTION ABROAD 



GERMANY 



The first dental clinic for school children in Germany seems 

 to have been established by Dr. Jessen in Strassburg in 1902. 

 From its inception the work has had a marked success and has 

 rapidly grown. At present Strassburg has a $60,000 building for 

 a school dispensary. The children are examined upon their 

 entrance into the public schools and twice a year thereafter until 

 they reach the age of thirteen. The treatment furnished includes 

 cleaning, fillings, and extractions. Parents able to pay are charged 

 for the service, but the most necessitous cases are treated gratis 

 and the deficit is made up by the municipality. The dentists 

 are state officers receiving regular salaries and are not permitted 

 to engage in private practice. One feature of the work is the 

 supplying of tooth brushes to all patients. 



The work initiated in Strassburg rapidly spread to other 

 German cities and served as a model in the organization of many 

 of the new systems. Cologne established a dental clinic in 1908 

 at an initial cost of $5,500. The school children are referred to the 

 clinic by the teachers but they must secure the consent of their 

 parents before being given dental treatment. The cost of main- 

 tenance amounts to from $6,000 to $6,500 annually, this sum 

 serving to meet the salary expense of one director on part time, 

 two assistants on whole time, and two nurses on whole time. 



In the city of Hamburg work was begun in 1911 in connection 

 with the dental clinic of the Municipal Insurance Committee. 

 This clinic occupies twelve rooms and was designed to provide 



* Annual Report of Fred. A. Verplanck, Superintendent of Schools, South 

 Manchester, Conn., 1910, p. 37. 



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