With the latest Oral Health Survey of 5-year-old children showing decades of progress on closing the gap between rich and the poor has stalled, the British Dental Association has called on government to keep its promises on dentistry.
The report notes “inequalities in prevalence of experience of dentinal decay in 5 year old schoolchildren significantly reduced from 2008 to 2015 but there has been little change in inequalities since then.”
Children living in the most deprived areas of the country were more than twice as likely to have experienced dentinal decay (32.2%) as those living in the least deprived areas (13.6%).
The survey also found 4 regions went backwards on decay rates – London, Yorkshire, the South West and the North East.
While the fieldwork for the National Dental Epidemiology Programme (NDEP) survey effectively predates the 2024 election, the BDA warns the oral health gap risks widening without decisive action from Government.
Tooth decay is the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children – which Ministers have repeatedly described as “Dickensian”. 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.
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.”
% of 5 year olds with decayed, missing or filled teeth by region.
