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Collection

Oral health

Information and resources to improve oral health and reduce inequalities in England.

Updates to this page

From:
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and UK Health Security Agency
Published:
4 February 2019
Last updated:
7 August 2026
Show all updates

  1. Removed the links to the following guidance publications because they have been withdrawn: 'Smokefree and smiling' and 'COVID-19: mouth care for patients with a confirmed or suspected case'. Also removed links to the following research reports as they are out of date: 'Oral health of 5 year old children in local authorities' and 'Prison dental services in England and Wales: 2014 survey'.

  2. Added 'Water fluoridation: health monitoring report for England 2026' to the 'Improvement: water fluoridation' section.

  3. Added a link to the 'Hospital tooth extractions in 0 to 19 year olds 2025' report in the 'Related Intelligence' section.

  4. Added 'Adult oral health survey 2023' to the 'Surveys and intelligence: adult oral health surveys' section.

  5. Added a link to a survey about the ‘Hospital tooth extractions in 0 to 19 year olds’ report.

  6. Link to dental statistics updated from NHS Digital to NHS Business Services Authority

  7. Updated to add a link to 'Hospital tooth extractions in 0 to 19 year olds 2024' to the ‘Related intelligence’ section.

  8. Link added to the 'Oral health survey of 5 year old schoolchildren 2024' in the 'Surveys and intelligence: children' section.

  9. The oral health survey of adults aged 65 years and older living in care homes, 2024 to 2025 national protocol and survey toolkit has been added.

  10. Link added to 'Atlas of Variation for Head and Neck Cancer' in the 'Related Intelligence' section

  11. In the ‘Surveys and intelligence: children’ section, we have added a link to the most recent local authority oral health profiles of 5-year-old children 2022 published on DH eXchange, and have added ‘Oral health survey of children in year 6, 2023: detailed report’ to the document collection. We have removed broken external links to 'Guidance Notes for Dental Practitioners on the Safe Use of X-ray Equipment' and 'Water Safety Advice for Dental Practices' in the 'Dental healthcare public health and health protection' section, and to 'Change4Life Top Tips for Teeth toolkit for dental professionals' in the 'Improvement: children' section.

  12. Link added to 2023 report of hospital tooth extractions

  13. Link added for oral health survey of year 6 children

  14. Added link to Adult Oral Health Survey 2021 Removed link to "dental access during COVID" because that link is now in the Adult Oral Health Survey landing page

  15. Link added for oral health survey of 5 year olds 2023 to 2024 - survey toolkit Links removed for previous protocols for Year 6 (2022 to 2023) and five year olds (2021 to 2022).

  16. Link added in 'Improvement: Children' section for oral health promotion as part of the early years foundation stage framework.

  17. Added link to "oral health survey of 5 year olds 2022" to "Surveys and intelligence: children" section

  18. Added 'Hospital tooth extractions in 0 to 19 year olds: 2022' to the 'Related intelligence' section.

  19. Added 'The impact of COVID-19 on access to dental care' to the 'Surveys and intelligence: Adult Oral Health Surveys' section.

  20. New link to latest dental prescribing dashboard added to the 'Related intelligence' section.

  21. Updated to add 'Oral health survey of children in year 6, 2022 to 2023: survey toolkit' in 'Surveys and intelligence: children' section; and 'Oral health survey guidance' to a new group 'Surveys and intelligence: toolkits and guides'.

  22. Link added to "Hospital tooth extractions of 0 to 19 year olds 2021" in the "Related Intelligence" section

  23. Added link to interactive townscape for child oral health in the "Improvement: children" section.

  24. Added link to 'Water fluoridation: health monitoring report for England 2022' publication in the 'Improvement: water fluoridation' section.

  25. Added link to dental data from Health Survey For England (2019) in the 'Related Intelligence' section and changed email address to dentalphintelligence@dhsc.gov.uk.

  26. Added Oral health survey of 5 year old children: national protocol.

  27. Updated page summary.

  28. Added links to 'Oral health survey of 3 year olds 2020' and 'Inequalities in oral health in England'.

  29. Added new links to 'Prison dental services in England and Wales: 2014 survey' and 'Water fluoridation: health monitoring report for England 2014'.

  30. Added 'Adult oral health in care homes: toolkit'.

  31. Added link to Guidance Notes for Dental Practitioners on the Safe Use of X-ray Equipment.

  32. Added 'COVID-19: supervised toothbrushing programmes'.

  33. Added 'COVID-19: mouth care for patients with a confirmed or suspected case'.

  34. Added Oral health survey of adults attending dental practices 2018.

  35. Added Water safety advice for dental practices.

  36. Added Oral cancer in England to Related intelligence section.

  37. Added 'Oral health survey of 5-year-old children 2019'.

  38. Added link to consultation.

  39. Added 'Improving oral health: guideline development manual'.

  40. Added 'Oral health survey of 3 year old children: fieldwork protocol' document.

  41. Added 'Oral care and people with learning disabilities' guidance.

  42. Following feedback from users, the link to K-Hub has now been added to the collections page.

  43. Added 'Urgent Dental Care in England review' and 'Safeguarding in General Dental Practice'.

  44. First published.

The data, profiles and indicators for oral health are available on Fingertips.

Useful references for data include:

For queries about any of the reports or data, please email dentalphintelligence@dhsc.gov.uk

Sign up for updates to the oral health email alert

Old dental health surveys and data are available on the UK government web archive.

Surveys and intelligence: toolkits and guides

Documentation and resources to support the National Dental Epidemiology Programme (NDEP) oral health surveys.

Surveys and intelligence: children

These child oral health reports show findings from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities dental epidemiology programme by local population.

The Child Dental Health Survey, carried out every 10 years, is a useful reference of changes in the oral health of children.

The Dental Public Health Epidemiology DH eXchange page hosts the most recent local authority oral health profiles of 5-year-old children 2022.

K-Hub hosts the 2019 local authority oral health profiles of 5-year-old children.

Survey data of 5-year-old children from 2012 and 2008 are held in the archive.

Surveys and intelligence: adults

These adult oral health reports show findings from the National Dental Epidemiology Programme, which is coordinated by OHID.

Surveys and intelligence: adult oral health surveys

National Adult Oral Health Surveys are carried out every 10 years. These surveys have taken place since 1968 and reference changes in oral health in the adult population.

These surveys are now published by OHID. The previous Adult Oral Health Survey was published in 2009 by NHS Digital.

The Health Survey for England 2019: supplementary analysis of dental health contains a report and analysis of dental health questions commissioned for the survey by PHE (now OHID).

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) now hosts the latest release of the dental prescribing dashboard.

Improvement: toolkits and guides

Improvement: children

Child oral health promotion now forms part of the early years foundation stage framework.

The interactive townscape on child oral health provides evidence and guidance to help health and social care professionals to improve child oral health and reduce oral health inequalities in England.

The PHE tooth brushing toolkit was developed as result of the 4Children tooth brushing feasibility report.

The Tackling poor oral health in children guide explains local government’s role in reducing poor oral health in children.

The Healthy Child Programme e-learning resources for healthcare professionals include sessions on oral health.

Improvement: adults

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standard: oral health in care homes describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

The NICE oral and dental health page includes all other related guidance, NICE Pathways and quality standards.

The alcohol e-learning resource for healthcare professionals includes a module for dental teams.

Improvement: water fluoridation

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has a legal duty to monitor the effects of water fluoridation schemes on health and report on it every 4 years.

Dental healthcare public health and health protection

NHS England commissioning guides and standards support the transformation of dental services and the commissioning of consistent patient-centred dental services.

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