Oral health survey of 5 year old schoolchildren 2024
Results of the National Dental Epidemiology Programme (NDEP) survey, which took place in the school year ending 2024.
Applies to England
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The results of the oral health survey of 5 year old schoolchildren 2024 show:
- disparities at both regional and local authority levels for both prevalence and severity of dentinal decay
- overall 22.4% of 5 year old children in England had experience of obvious dentinal decay. This was lower than the finding of the previous survey of 5 year old schoolchildren in 2022, where 23.7% of the surveyed children had experience of dentinal decay.
This survey takes place every 2 years in order to collect oral health information of 5 year olds who attend mainstream, state-funded schools across England. It was carried out as part of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) National Dental Epidemiology Programme (NDEP). The protocol associated with this survey was published in September 2023.
The aim of the survey was to measure the prevalence and severity of dentinal caries among 5 year old schoolchildren within each lower-tier local authority. This was to provide information to local authorities, the NHS and other partners on the oral health of children in their local areas and to highlight any inequalities.