School Children Get Free Dental and Physical Exams, 1921

“Health of School Children” from the May, 1921, issue of The Health Bulletin, published by the North Carolina State Board of Health and distributed for free to any citizen of the state upon request.

An especially able and capable young lady teacher, principal of three-teacher school in one of the best farming sections of a neighboring county, a few days ago sent in a report to the department of Medical Inspection of Schools of the State Board of Health which deserves more attention that burial in the files of an office. This report is the recorded result of a preliminary physical examination of the pupils of the school by the teachers.

In the first place, as already stated, the teachers are most capable, the community is a good one and the people take pride in supporting their school; and yet of 128 pupils enrolled, there were only 95 present and examined by the teachers at the time the examinations were made. 

Of the 95 children examined, 77 or 81% have decayed teeth. Of the whole total only 7 had ever visited a dentist. Fifty-five of them, or 57%, had never used a toothbrush. Most of the others answered that they used a toothbrush “seldom” or “occasionally.” None of these children live more than 15 miles from at least 10 competent dentists. What is the cause of such a situation?

Forty of them complained of chronic throat trouble, and 22 have defective vision. The above facts are serious enough; but by far the most discouraging feature of this survey is the discovery that 37 of the 95 children are grade repeaters. More than one-third of them, 39% to be exact—are forced through necessity to repeat their efforts.

Now, if those children had their handicaps removed, the services of one of the teachers could be dispensed with and two months added to the school term without additional cost. In other words, the school would cease to be a detention camp for defectives.

The reader may think this an exceptional situation. It is, in that the record is better in many respects than many hundreds of schools scattered throughout the length and breadth of the State, both in town and country. The big question, and one that we pass on is, What can be done about it?

                        --G.M.C.