Craig Mackinlay – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings in the report of the Office for National Statistics, Decennial Child Dental Health Survey that (a) 46 per cent of 15 year olds and 34 per cent of 12 year olds had obvious decay experience in their permanent teeth and (b) children eligible for free school meals are significantly less likely to be in good overall oral health than those not eligible.

Jane Ellison

The decennial Child Dental Health Survey is part of the Public Health England (PHE) dental public health intelligence programme which provides population oral health surveillance. Local authorities have responsibility for oral health improvement. In 2014 PHE published an evidence informed toolkit for local authorities to support their work on oral health improvement among children and young people. PHE also published an evidence based toolkit for dental teams to support preventive advice and treatment for their patients, including the prevention of tooth decay in children.

Eligibility for free school meals was used as a proxy indicator of relative deprivation in the study, as it is well established that poor oral health is associated with deprivation. The findings of this study continue to support that understanding.

The results of the most recent decennial child dental health survey were published this year by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) and can be found at:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB17137

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