Dental decay in 5-year olds still an issue
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- Published: Sunday, 29 March 2020 05:43
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Public Health England has published the latest oral health survey of 5-year olds. It shows that nearly a quarter of them had experience of dental decay. There was wide variation in both prevalence and severity of experience of dental decay by geographical area, level of deprivation and ethnic group. Further work to improve oral health and reduce inequalities is needed.
The latest oral health survey of 5-year olds (2019)[i] shows dental decay among young children remains an important public health issue.
Overall, 23.4% of 5-year-old children in England had experience of dental decay. This was similar to the finding of the previous survey of 5-year old children in 2017, where 23.3% of the surveyed children had experience of dental decay. Among the 23.4% of children with experience of dental decay, the average number of teeth with experience of dental decay was 3.4.
The prevalence of experience of dental decay was higher in children from more deprived areas (34.3%) than in children from less deprived areas (13.7%). There was variation in prevalence of experience of dental decay by ethnic group and this was significantly higher in the ‘Other Ethnic Groups’ (44.3%) and the Asian/Asian British ethnic group (36.9%) than other ethnic groups.
There was a decrease in the proportion of children with experience of dental decay from 30.9%in 2008, 27.9% in 2012, 24.8% in 2015 to 23.3% in 2017. There was no continuing improvement in the results of this latest survey.
The mean number of teeth with experience of dental decay fell from 1.1 in 2008 to 0.8 in 2015 after which there have been no further improvements, including in the current survey.
Inequalities in prevalence of dental decay experience in 5-year-olds reduced from 2008 to 2015 but there have been no further reductions in inequalities since then. Local authorities are responsible for improving health, including oral health..Dental decay is largely a preventable disease. Further work to improve oral health and reduce inequalities is needed as nearly a quarter of 5-year-olds had experience of dental decay and the inequalities gap remains unacceptably high.
[i] Public Health England, National Dental Epidemiology Programme for England: oral health survey of 5-year-olds 2019, A report on the variations in prevalence and severity of dental decay, March 2020, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/873492/NDEP_for_England_OH_Survey_5yr_2019_v1.0.pdf
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