DT News - UK - Over a quarter of UK five-year-olds have dental caries

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 26 September 2013

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LONDON – New figures published last week highlight that a considerable number of children in the UK have tooth decay. Despite a slight overall improvement in children’s oral health over the past four years, the new survey revealed that significant variations persist between children in different areas of the country and from different backgrounds.

The survey, which was published by Public Health England (PHE), an agency of the UK Department of Health, showed that 27.9 per cent of five-year-olds across the country have tooth decay. On average, children with decay had three to four affected teeth.

However, the survey found that the numbers vary significantly between different regions. More five-year-olds in northern regions (34.8 per cent) had tooth decay compared with those in the southern and eastern regions (21.2 per cent). In addition, levels of decay were higher in regions governed by poorer local authorities.

Compared with a survey carried out in 2008, an overall reduction in both severity and prevalence of decay was observed in the current study. As an increasing number of patients visit dentists today, health officials are confident that decay levels will continue to fall in the future.

“Since April this year, local authorities have been responsible for assessing the oral health needs of their local population, developing oral health strategies and commissioning oral health improvement programmes. We will be providing support to local authorities and are currently developing guides, starting with a focus on the needs of young children,” announced Prof. Kevin Fenton, PHE’s Director of Health and Wellbeing.

The full survey, titled “National Dental Epidemiology Programme for England: Oral health survey of five-year-old children 2012”, is available on the PHE website.

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