Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
March 2006
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
23
Issue:
1

BASCD Survey report

BASCD Survey report

The dental caries experience of 11-year-old children in Great Britain. Surveys coordinated by the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry in 2004 / 2005
N.B. Pitts1, J. Boyles2, Z.J. Nugent1, N. Thomas3 and C.M. Pine4
1. Dental Health Services Research Unit, University of Dundee’s Health Informatics Centre, Dundee; 2. Bristol South and West PCT, Bristol; 3. Rotherham PCT, Rotherham; 4. School of Dental Studies, University of Liverpool, Liverpool.

Objective This paper reports the results of standardized clinical caries examinations of 11-year-old children from across England and Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man, and Jersey in 2004/5. These co-ordinated surveys are the latest in a series which seek to monitor the dental health of children and to assess the delivery of dental services. Method The criteria and conventions of the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry were used. Representative samples were drawn from participating strategic health authorities (SHAs), primary care trusts (PCTs), health boards (HBs), and local health boards (LHBs). Caries was diagnosed at the caries into dentine threshold using a visual method without radiography or fibre-optic transillumination. Results The results again demonstrated a wide variation in disease prevalence and care strategies across Great Britain. Mean values for D3MFT within the current English strategic health authorities ranged from 0.19 in Harlow to 1.32 in North Manchester and in Salford; in Wales mean values ranged from 0.69 in Vale of Glamorgan to 2.09 in Blaenau Gwent; while in Scotland they ranged from 0.59 in Orkney to 1.77 in Western Isles. Mean D3MFT across England was 0.64 (D3T = 0.32, MT = 0.06, FT = 0.25), across Wales it was 1.09 (D3T = 0.48, MT = 0.11, FT = 0.50), and across Scotland values were 1.29 (D3T = 0.52, MT = 0.17, FT = 0.60). Overall, 31.3% of children in England & Wales and 47.1 % of children inspected in Scotland had evidence of caries experience in dentine (D3MFT > 0, including visual dentine caries). As in previous surveys, the distribution of caries was highly skewed. Thus the mean caries experience for those with dentinal decay in England and Wales was 2.12, as opposed to the overall mean of 0.66; in Scotland the corresponding values were 2.74 and 1.29. Trends over time demonstrate an improvement in overall mean D3MFT for England and Wales since the 2000/2001 of 12-year-olds, although part of this difference is accountable to the younger age, at examination, in this survey. The mean value for those with dentine decay experience was also marginally less at 2.12 compared with 2.35 in the previous survey. (Figures for Scotland were not included in the 2000/2001 survey.) The care index was also found to be marginally lower than previously at 41% compared with 48% but again the younger age of the children would influence this value. Conclusion Dental health of 11-year-old children has been surveyed in Great Britain, Jersey, and the Isle of Man: being a slightly younger mean age than in previous BASCD surveys. Geographic variation in oral health is marked at both the local and national levels. Overall, the provision of operative care for those with dentinal decay is around 42%. While many children enjoy good oral health, sizable groups remain within the population of 11-year-old children who have a clinically significant burden of preventable dental disease. Key words: caries prevalence, dental caries, dental epidemiology, national surveys, oral health

Introduction
This paper sets out the results of the most recent series of surveys, this year for the first time at age 11, conducted within the National Health Services (NHS) under the auspices of the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD) Dental Epidemiology Programme during 2004/2005. The programme seeks to monitor the dental health of children and contributes to the national monitoring of service provision and targets, while providing data locally to aid in service planning and evaluation of oral health strategies.

using clinical visual diagnostic criteria at the D3 (caries into dentine) threshold.

Results
A total of 135,075 ten and eleven-year-old children from across Great Britain, the Isle of Man, and Jersey were examined, some 27% more than in the 2000/2001 survey which omitted Scotland. (Pitts, et al, 2002). On average, this represents 21% of the total population of this age group, although in the different areas there was a wide range in the size of samples chosen according to local needs and practices. Table 1 shows total populations and samples, results for DMFT and its components, sealed teeth, the percentage of and mean disease experience for children with DMFT > 0 and DT > 0, and values for care index percentage (FT/DMFT x 100%) for every participating health authority, local health board, or health board, and for the current ‘regions’ (of the National Health Service

Method
The agreed BASCD criteria and conventions (as set out in the BASCD trainer’s pack) were employed. Please consult the supplement to this programme for details of the methodology (Pitts, 1997). Dental caries was detected

Correspondence to: Professor N B Pitts, Dental Health Services Research Unit, Mackenzie Building, Kirsty Semple Way, Dundee DD2 4BF. E-mail: n.b.pitts@dundee.ac.uk

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