The dental caries experience of 14-year-old children in the United Kingdom. Surveys coordinated by the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry in 1994/95.

This paper reports the results of standardised clinical survey examinations of 127,481 14-year-old children across the United Kingdom. These 1994/95 coordinated surveys are the latest in a series which seeks to monitor the dental health of children and contribute to assessments of the provision of dental services. The criteria and conventions of the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry trainers' pack 1992/93 were used. Representative samples were drawn from participating health authorities and boards and caries was diagnosed at the caries into dentine (D3) threshold using a visual method without radiography, fibre-optic transillumination or compressed air. The results demonstrated a wide variation in prevalence across the UK, the mean D3MFT for the former English regions (of the National Health Service) and the other UK 'territories' ranging from 1.2 (South West Thames) to 4.1 (Northern Ireland). The overall mean D3MFT across the UK was 1.93 (D3T = 0.63, MT = 0.15, FT = 1.15). Overall, 57 percent of children had evidence of (dentinal) caries experience (D3MFT > 0), although means ranged from 42 percent (South Wales Thames) to 81 percent (Northern Ireland). The inclusion of data from Northern Ireland for the first time in this series confirms that dental caries prevalence is higher in the province than in other areas of the UK. Trends since the 1990/91 surveys can be assessed for Great Britain. These demonstrate an overall fall in D3MFT of 20 percent since 1990/91 (from 2.30 to 1.85). This is, however, due to the 35 percent reduction in the number of fillings (1.68 to 1.09) which was partially offset by an increase in unrestored dentinal decay of 41 percent (0.44 to 0.62). These findings (taken together with results from regions reporting in 1986/87) demonstrate that although overall improvements have continued in this age group, the rate of improvement has slowed and that changes in the pattern of provision of care for those with disease experience continue to give some cause for concern. On average, across the UK, only 59 percent of the dentinal caries experience identified by survey examinations of permanent teeth was seen as fillings (range 48 to 69 percent).