Summary
This report presents the results of the seventh National Dental Epidemiology Programme oral health survey of 5 year old schoolchildren in England in 2024. The data was collected during the 2023 to 2024 school year. This data is the source for the dental indicator (percentage of 5 year olds with visually obvious dentinal decay) included in the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
For the second time in this series of surveys on 5 year olds, the prevalence of children with enamel decay is presented. This is an important threshold to highlight the proportion of children who are found to have early stage decay who would ordinarily be counted as being free of obvious decay. This is presented at national and regional levels. Estimates at national, government region, NHS region, integrated care board (ICB) and local authority levels are reported for the prevalence and severity of experience of dentinal decay in primary (baby) teeth. Experience of dentinal decay refers to teeth with visually obvious dentinal decay, and teeth that are missing, or that have been filled due to decay. Severity of dentinal decay refers to the number of teeth with decay experience.
The average age of the schoolchildren who participated in the survey was 5.5 years.
In this survey of 5-year-olds in England, the national prevalence of children with enamel and/or dentinal decay was 26.9%. Regionally, this ranged from 23.3% in the East of England to 36.8% in the North West…