Parliamentary Questions 27 June 2005
27 Jun 2005 :
Dentistry
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the correlation between dental health in five-year-olds and their social-economic grouping, broken down by county in each year since 1997; [4718]
(2) what role fluoridation of water plays in improving dental health; and whether the Government plans to review the level of fluoridation in tap water. [4719]
Ms Rosie Winterton: National dental health surveys are carried out every 10 years; the latest survey is for the year 2003. Results and comparisons with the results of the 1993 survey are available on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website at www.statistics.gov.uk/children/dentalhealth/. Results are not available for areas as small as counties because of the small sample size, but regional results for five-year-old children are given in tables 1.5 and 1.6 for the proportion of children with obvious decay experience and for the mean number of teeth with obvious decay experience.
A separate report on this survey has been prepared on social factors and oral health in children, which analyses the United Kingdom figures. This is also available on the ONS website. The report includes analyses of tooth decay by an assessment of deprivation of the school together with analyses by socio-economic status of the household.
The findings of these surveys confirm that there is a strong correlation between dental disease and social and economic deprivation, which we are addressing in connection with implementation of the Government's commitment to reduce health inequalities. The fluoridation of water offers the best prospect for reducing inequalities in oral health. Changes made in the Water Act 2003 to the legislative framework governing fluoridation have made it a realistic option for strategic health authorities to consider for improving the oral health of their populations.
Dentistry
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment she has made of the correlation between dental health in five-year-olds and their social-economic grouping, broken down by county in each year since 1997; [4718]
(2) what role fluoridation of water plays in improving dental health; and whether the Government plans to review the level of fluoridation in tap water. [4719]
Ms Rosie Winterton: National dental health surveys are carried out every 10 years; the latest survey is for the year 2003. Results and comparisons with the results of the 1993 survey are available on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website at www.statistics.gov.uk/children/dentalhealth/. Results are not available for areas as small as counties because of the small sample size, but regional results for five-year-old children are given in tables 1.5 and 1.6 for the proportion of children with obvious decay experience and for the mean number of teeth with obvious decay experience.
A separate report on this survey has been prepared on social factors and oral health in children, which analyses the United Kingdom figures. This is also available on the ONS website. The report includes analyses of tooth decay by an assessment of deprivation of the school together with analyses by socio-economic status of the household.
The findings of these surveys confirm that there is a strong correlation between dental disease and social and economic deprivation, which we are addressing in connection with implementation of the Government's commitment to reduce health inequalities. The fluoridation of water offers the best prospect for reducing inequalities in oral health. Changes made in the Water Act 2003 to the legislative framework governing fluoridation have made it a realistic option for strategic health authorities to consider for improving the oral health of their populations.
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