The current 2014/15 survey has now closed; we thank you for your participation and support. Results from the survey are expected to be published early in 2016.

To review Walsall results from the 2012 5 year old dental epidemiology survey Click here

Background

Dental health surveys involving children have been carried out across the UK since 1987. The information arising from them allows local authorities and its partners to plan dental services and health improvement teams to tailor programmes for groups where oral health is poor. The overall aim is to support actions to improve oral health, reduce health inequalities and improve the provision of treatment services.

It is a statutory duty of the local authority to participate in these and in Walsall the surveys are coordinated and delivered by Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust: Dental Department.

Consent Process

The local coordinator for Walsall, Sharon Ash (Senior Dental Nurse) will contact randomly sampled primary schools. She will require your cooperation to access lists of all children that may be included in the survey including their dates of birth.

Positive, written consent will then be sought via letters home to parents, which she will provide. The ethnic classification and home postcode of consented children will be requested from school information.

Examinations

On the day of examination the dental team will require a room to set up their mobile equipment. They will then examine all eligible children’s teeth; they should take no more than a minute and, as the teams are child friendly, should cause no discomfort or distress. All the information is recorded anonymously; no names, gender or complete dates of birth are recorded.

Data

All data is kept securely and is sent to a regional centre for uploading via a secure web portal to the national coordinating centre. This centre collates data from all over England and produces reports on levels of dental health for England as a whole and at a variety of local government and health organisation levels.

If you have any queries regarding the dental epidemiology process please contact Vikki Tolley

Any concerns regarding the process within your school please contact the local coordinator

Sharon Ash

Senior Dental Nurse , BCHC