Hospital tooth extractions in 0 to 19 year olds: short statistical commentary 2023
Published 8 February 2024
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2024
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What’s New
The following indicators have been updated with England, regional and local authority data for all tooth extraction and decay-related tooth extraction episodes from the 2022 to 2023 Hospital Episodes Statistics data. Numbers and rates per 100,000 population of 0 to 19 year olds have been calculated for:
- all tooth extraction episodes
- decay-related tooth extraction episodes
For the first time, the indicators are presented at upper tier local authority, integrated care board and NHS regional levels.
Age band groupings have now reverted to quinary age bands. For more details on this, please visit the data sources alignment section of the tooth extractions methods web page.
Introduction
This product provides the most recent hospital activity at various geographical levels on tooth extractions in children aged 0 to 19 years old. The data is broken down into episodes which had a primary diagnosis of tooth decay as the reason for extraction and those which had no such diagnosis.
Main findings
For the financial year 2022 to 2023 there were 47,581 episodes of tooth extractions in NHS hospitals for 0 to 19 year olds.
There were 31,165 episodes of tooth extractions with a primary diagnosis of tooth decay for 0 to 19 year olds. This represents 66% of all tooth extractions for this age group.
There has been a 17% increase in the number of episodes of decay-related tooth extractions in hospital for 0 to 19 year olds compared to the previous financial year of 2021 to 2022. This increase is likely to reflect a continuing recovery of hospital services following the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were variations in decay-related tooth extraction episode rates across the regions with the highest rates occurring in Yorkshire and the Humber (405 per 100,000 population of 0 to 19 year olds) and the lowest rates occurring in the East Midlands (80 per 100,000 population of 0 to 19 year olds). The England rate was 236 per 100,000 population of 0 to 19 year olds.
The decay-related tooth extraction episode rate for children and young people living in the most deprived communities was nearly 3 and a half times that of those living in the most affluent communities.
Tooth decay was still the most common reason for hospital admission in children aged between 5 and 9 years.
The costs to the NHS of hospital admissions for tooth extractions in children aged 0 to 19 years have been estimated based on the latest NHS national cost collection data. The costs were £64.3 million for all tooth extractions and £40.7 million for decay-related tooth extractions in the financial year 2022 to 2023. This is a reduction compared with the costs in the previous financial year 2021 to 2022, and is due to a decrease in NHS unit costs for tooth extraction procedures.
Trends in hospital tooth extraction episodes
Figure 1: number of tooth extraction episodes in the last 10 years by extraction category
| Financial Year | Tooth decay extractions episodes | Non- tooth decay extractions episodes | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 to 2014 | 41,282 | 21,320 | 62,602 |
| 2014 to 2015 | 42,209 | 20,987 | 63,196 |
| 2015 to 2016 | 39,278 | 21,083 | 60,361 |
| 2016 to 2017 | 39,346 | 21,955 | 61,301 |
| 2017 to 2018 | 38,385 | 20,929 | 59,314 |
| 2018 to 2019 | 37,404 | 21,607 | 59,011 |
| 2019 to 2020 | 35,190 | 19,947 | 55,137 |
| 2020 to 2021 | 14,645 | 7,904 | 22,549 |
| 2021 to 2022 | 26,741 | 15,439 | 42,180 |
| 2022 to 2023 | 31,165 | 16,416 | 47,581 |
There has been a steady decrease in the number of tooth extraction episodes since the 2014 to 2015 financial year. The large decrease in 2020 to 2021 was likely due to services being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in tooth extractions since 2021 is likely due to the continued recovery of services following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Figure 2: decayed tooth extraction episode rate per 100,000 population of 0 to 19 year olds by region for the financial year 2022 to 2023
| Region | Decayed tooth extraction episode rate per 100,000 population |
|---|---|
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 405 |
| North East | 397 |
| North West | 341 |
| London | 333 |
| South West | 240 |
| ENGLAND | 236 |
| West Midlands | 178 |
| South East | 112 |
| East of England | 99 |
| East Midlands | 80 |
The rates in Yorkshire and The Humber are over 5 times that of the East Midlands.
Tooth extraction episodes by region and year
Figure 3: Hospital tooth extraction episodes for 0 to 19 year olds by region and financial year
The chart describes the number of tooth extraction episodes and groups the data by region and financial year starting from 2018 to 2019 up to 2022 to 2023.
The number of all tooth extraction episodes across most regions for the financial year 2022 to 2023 is higher than the previous year. The levels are still lower than the pre-pandemic figures.
Decay-related tooth extraction episode rates per 100,000 population
Figure 4: decay-related tooth extraction episode rate per 100,000 population of 0 to 19 year olds by index of multiple deprivation (IMD) 2019 quintiles for the financial year 2022 to 2023
| Deprivation quintile | Tooth extraction episode rate per 100,000 population |
|---|---|
| Quintile 1 | 381 |
| Quintile 2 | 270 |
| Quintile 3 | 194 |
| Quintile 4 | 160 |
| Quintile 5 | 109 |
| ENGLAND | 234 |
Quintile 1 is the most deprived quintile.
The decay-related tooth extraction rate for children and young people living in the most deprived communities was nearly 3.5 times that of those living in the most affluent communities.
Ethnicity is recorded as either “not known” or “not stated” for a quarter of episodes of tooth extractions for 0 to 19 year olds, which is why a breakdown of activity for this characteristic is not presented. The recording of accurate ethnicity will be reviewed each year.