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Children - trend data
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Oral health: children - trend data

 

Dental epidemiology surveys regularly demonstrate that children in Scotland and Northern Ireland have more caries than their peers elsewhere in the United Kingdom (British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD)).

Surveys of 5-year-olds provide the most sensitive barometer of change in the oral health of the population. The linked Excel chart Excel file icon (23Kb) shows the trend in the percentage of 5-year-olds in Scotland with no obvious decay. It uses data from three sources: the Office for Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) - now the Office for National Statistics (ONS); the Scottish Health Boards' Dental Epidemiological Programme (SHBDEP); and the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP). The latest data from NDIP (54.1% of 5-year-olds caries-free in 2006) appears to show a marked improvement in Scotland (from 50.7% in 2004 and 44.6% in 2003). This apparent improvement contrasts with the fairly steady pattern for previous years in Scotland, and for recent years in other areas of Europe (Marthaler et al, 1996). 

The second linked Excel chart Excel file icon (24Kb) shows that whilst caries experience (dmft - the number of decayed, missing or filled teeth per child) has declined (improved) since 1983 for 11/12- and 14-year-old children, for 5-year-olds the levels were fairly steady from 1983 to 1994, and then tended to decline (improve) between 1994 and 2006.