Oral health: key points

 Children's oral health

  • Children's oral health in Scotland has improved over the last 30 years, although many children still suffer from tooth decay and have begun 'a journey of deteriorating oral health' to adulthood.
  • In 2010, 64.0% of Primary 1 (P1) children in Scotland were found to have no obvious decay experience, thus meeting the 2010 target of 60%.
  • Most, but not all, NHS boards have also met this target. Dental disease inequalities persist, with children from the most socio-economically deprived backgrounds having the highest levels of decay experience. P1 children from the most deprived areas (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation deciles 1 to 3) had still not reached the target in 2010.
  • In 2009, 63.6% of Primary 7 children in Scotland were found to have no obvious decay experience in their permanent dentition (an improvement from 2007, when the level was 59.1%).
  • Scotland's children have among the highest levels of decay in the United Kingdom/Great Britain and Western Europe.

Adults' oral health

  • The oral health of adults in Scotland has improved markedly over the last 40 years. The trend is likely to continue into the future, with fewer adults having no natural teeth and more adults retaining more teeth into their older years. Data from the recent Scottish Health Survey confirmed this progress; in 2008, 88% of adults had all or some of their own natural teeth.

Section updates:

  • The last major update of this section was completed in June 2011.
  • The next major update is due to be carried out by end June 2012.