New data released on Tuesday by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) highlights persistent inequalities in dental health among England’s 5-year-olds, despite a slight national improvement.
The survey for 2023/24 revealed that 22.4% of children experienced obvious dentinal decay – down from 23.7% in 2021/22.
The North West and London recorded the highest prevalence of tooth decay at 28.7% and 27.4%, respectively, while the East of England (17.5%) and South East (19.4%) had the lowest rates.
Tooth decay remains a leading cause of hospital admissions for children aged 5-9, with over 31,000 children undergoing tooth extractions in 2023 alone – an average of 119 procedures per working day.
Data Viewpoints
Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the Local Government Association’s community wellbeing board: “Alarmingly, these figures highlight stark inequalities in oral health. Children living in the most deprived areas are more than twice as likely to experience dental decay compared to those in the least deprived areas. This persistent inequality must be addressed.”
Dr Charlotte Eckhardt, dean of the faculty of dental surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons: “We’ve seen a slight improvement overall in number of 5-year-olds with tooth decay, but it is still too high. The fact that more than one in five children still suffer from an entirely preventable condition is concerning. Supervised toothbrushing programmes (STPs), which the government has said it will implement, offer a glimmer of hope, but their roll-out is uneven across the country.”
British Dental Association: “Tooth decay is the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children. However there has been no progress on rollout of Labour manifesto pledges to fix the failed contract fuelling the crisis in NHS dentistry or to deliver tried and tested preventive programmes in schools.”
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