Percentage of 5 year olds with experience of visually obvious dental decay - WMCA

Percentage of 5 year olds with dental decay extending to the dentine layer which can be detected by visual observation aloneRationaleOral health is an integral part of overall health; when children are not healthy this affects their ability to learn, thrive and develop. This indicator therefore links to a key policy: Getting the Best Start in Life. Poor oral health is a priority under Best Start in Life, it was also a topic of a Health Select Committee inquiry, and the most common cause of hospital admission for 5 to 9 year olds. This indicator allows benchmarking of oral health of young children across England, and is an excellent proxy measure of assessing the impact of the commissioning of oral health improvement programmes on the local community. Dental caries is a synonymous term for tooth decay.Definition of numeratorNumber of 5 year olds in a given area with at least one tooth decayed, missing or filledDefinition of denominatorNumber of 5 year olds examined for a given areaCaveatsNot all local authorities have taken part in the survey. This means that for any child who has been examined whose LA of residence has not taken part in the survey, their figures will be included in national, regional, deprivation and ethnicity breakdowns, but will not appear in the local authority breakdown. Details are available at  https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/oral-health#surveys-and-intelligence:-children