Oral health survey of 5 year olds

Please look out for the oral health survey of 5 year olds coming soon

Oral health surveys involving children are carried out on a regular basis in order to provide information about oral health need. This helps to inform decisions about the provision of dental services and action needed to improve oral health. Recent results have shown a continued increase in the proportion of children with no obvious dental decay but there are still marked inequalities at regional and local authority level.

Over the next few months, dental epidemiology teams will be contacting a number of randomly sampled primary schools across Warwickshire to ask them to participate in the survey.  We would greatly appreciate your support and cooperation in order to ensure a successful survey.

Toothache can cause pain, infection, difficulties with eating, sleeping and socialising and impacts on school readiness and school absence. Extraction of teeth under general anaesthetic remains one of the most common reasons for children to be admitted to hospital, despite tooth decay being a preventable disease. These national surveys provide valuable information to help inform local decisions about tackling oral health issues and we would be very grateful for your support.

It is also worthwhile noting that school attainment and health are closely linked. Children’s health and wellbeing is an important area of Ofsted inspections and working with health providers, including through measuring and screening, can be an important way of demonstrating a focus on pupil health and wellbeing.

For further information about the results of the last oral health survey, please see:

National Dental Epidemiology Programme for England: oral health survey of 5 year old children 2015. A report on the prevalence and severity of dental decay.  

For further information about the survey itself, please contact the:

Special Care Dental Service on (01926) 317778.