Welsh Oral Health Information Unit
We work with the Wales Dental Epidemiology Co-ordinator to plan and deliver the NHS Dental Survey Programme for Wales.
We collaborate with the Wales Dental Epidemiology Co-Ordinator, Community Dental Services and the Welsh Government to deliver the surveys.
This integrated team approach ensures that the highest quality assurance standards are achieved within the childhood epidemiology programme.
Aims
Our unit provides the following on behalf of the Welsh Government, commissioned via Public Health Wales:
- independent professional advice
- quality assurance
- data cleaning
- data verification
- data analysis
- reporting service
Projects
Oral epidemiology programme
Surveying the oral health of children and adults helps inform service planning and evaluation.
The surveys that we support are comparable across Wales, with recent previous surveys, and with other areas of the UK where similar surveys are being conducted by following British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD) guidance.
Survey of children in year one
The 2022/23 all-Wales survey gathered clinical data on the prevalence and severity of caries within a sample of year one school children from across Wales, between Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023:
| Age group | Year of survey | Document |
|---|---|---|
| 5 year olds | 2022/23 | Survey report |
A survey was also undertaken in 2015/16, and further information about this can be found below:
| Age group | Year of survey | Document |
|---|---|---|
| 5 year olds | 2015/16 | Survey report |
| 5 year olds | 2015/16 | Survey protocol |
| 5 year olds | 2015/16 | Data report |
Survey of children in year seven
Planning is currently underway for the next all-Wales oral health survey which will focus on children in year seven of middle or secondary schools across Wales, between Autumn 2023 and Spring 2024.
A survey was also undertaken in 2016/17, and further information about this can be found below:
| Age group | Year of survey | Document | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 year olds | 2016/17 | Survey report | |
| 12 year olds | 2016/17 | Survey protocol | |
| 12 year olds | 2016/17 | Data report |
Our team
Archived annual reports
Oral epidemiology programme annual reports
| Age group | Year of survey | Report |
|---|---|---|
| 18-15 year olds | 2020 | Full report |
| 18-15 year olds | 2019 | Full report |
| Five year olds | 2014/15 | Full report |
| Five year olds | 2011/12 | Data report |
| Three year olds | 2013/14 | Full report |
| Five year olds | 2007/08 | Data report |
| Five year olds | 2005/06 | Full report |
| Five year olds | 2003/04 | Full report |
| Twelve year olds | 2008/09 | Full report |
| Twelve year olds | 2004/5 | Full report |
| Twelve year olds | 2012/13 | Full report |
Health Board oral health profiles 2014
We prepared profiles for the oral health data of children in school year one at each Local Health Board in Wales. We compared results from surveys completed in 2007/2008 and 2011/2012:
Health Board oral health profiles 2012
These oral health profiles provide an overview of oral health for the seven local health boards across Wales.
They include trends in oral disease and dental caries in 5-12 year olds, inequalities in children's oral health, Designed to Smile, oral health in adults and current service use in relation to need.
Annual Designed to Smile monitoring reports
| Year | Report |
|---|---|
| 2018/19 | Report |
| 2017/18 | Report |
| 2016/17 | Report |
| 2015/16 | Report |
| 2014/15 | Report |
| 2013/14 | Report |
Wales Care Home Dental Survey
The 2010-2011 survey of care home residents in Wales followed on from the 2006-2007 survey of care home managers by examining a sample of residents to obtain data on prevalence of dental diseases, the types of interventions they could benefit from and the difficulties in delivering the dental care required.
It was designed to be a supplementary survey to the national Adult Dental Health Survey (ADHS) 2009 and wherever possible used the same methodological criteria.
The report is intended to support local health boards in Wales to use information from the survey to plan dental service provision.
Next steps
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