A new oral health survey has revealed that ‘wide variation’ in the prevalence of decay in five-year-old schoolchildren across England remains.
Five-year-olds in the most deprived areas of the country were more than twice as likely to have experienced decay (32.2%) compared to those in the least deprived areas (13.6%).
In addition, the survey found disparities in the prevalence of decay by ethnic group, with significantly higher percentages in the ‘other’ ethnic group (45.4%) and the Asian or Asian British ethnic group (37.7%).
Regionally, the north west had the highest prevalence of decay, with 28.7% of five-year-olds likely to have experienced it. At a local authority level, Brent had the highest rate with 43.4%.
The survey, which collected data during the 2023-24 school year, also found that the decay rates in four regions have worsened: London, Yorkshire, the south west and the north east.
Overall, the report states that 22.4% of five-year-olds from the survey had experienced decay – a slight reduction from 23.7% in 2022. Among these school children, each child had 3.5 teeth with decay on average.
In addition, the prevalence of decay decreased significantly from 30.9% in 2008 to 23.3% in 2017, but this stalled in 2019 and 2022. However, the recent report shows a slight decrease from 23.7% in 2022 to 22.4% in 2024.
The report states: ‘Inequalities in prevalence of experience of dentinal decay in five-year-old schoolchildren significantly reduced from 2008 to 2015 but there has been little change in inequalities since then.’
Decisive action needed
As a result, the British Dental Association (BDA) has called for decisive government action, warning that the oral health gap risks widening without it.
BDA chair Eddie Crouch said: ‘This oral health gap was made in Westminster, with children paying the price for official failure to take dentistry seriously.
‘A new government calls this “Dickensian”, but it will take deeds not words to turn this around.’
Dr Charlotte Eckhardt, dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, said: ‘We’ve seen a slight improvement overall in number of five-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. STPs have proven to reduce dental decay within a single year after children have been enrolled. Paying for themselves within just three years.
‘Areas like London demonstrate how fragile improvement can be without sustained intervention. We need a consistent, targeted approach in hard-hit areas, with the government taking swift action to improve NHS dental access for all children.’
This comes as UK rapper Professor Green has teamed up with the NHS to launch a competition for primary schools to encourage healthy toothbrushing habits.
The ‘Read all about it’ rapper told the BBC he only realised the negative physical and mental health impacts of neglecting oral health later in life. He said he now took his own son’s toothbrushing routine very seriously alongside a healthy diet.
You can read the full oral health survey findings here.
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