Dental health

Oral health is an integral part of overall health; when children are not healthy this affects their ability to learn, thrive and develop.

Improving the oral health of children links to a key national policy: Getting the Best Start in Life, with poor oral health being a priority under Best Start in Life. The indicator showing the percentage of five year olds with experience of visually obvious dentinal decay allows benchmarking of oral health of young children across England, and is an excellent proxy measure of assessing the impact of the commissioning of oral health improvement programmes on the local community. Dental caries is a synonymous term for tooth decay.

Children's dental health

Key findings

Decayed, missing and filled teeth of five-year-old children 

• In the Lancashire-12 area, the mean number of teeth per child with experience of dentinal decay, in all five year old children examined, was 0.9 and significantly higher than the England average of 0.8. Within the Lancashire-12 area this ranges from 0.27 in Ribble Valley to 1.45 in Preston (2024). i
• In the Lancashire-12 area, 24.3% of five year olds were affected by visually obvious dental decay in 2023/24, this is significantly higher than the England rate (22.4%).
• In Blackburn with Darwen 34.8% of five year olds are affected by visually obvious dental decay and in Blackpool 32.1% are affected, both authorities are significantly higher than the England rate (2023/24).

Hospital admissions for dental caries (0-5 years), 2021/22 - 23/24

• At an authority level, Lancashire-12 has a rate of 415.2 per 100,000 and is significantly higher than the England rate (207.2). Blackburn with Darwen (316.0) and Blackpool (644.2) rates are also higher than the England rate.

For additional county and unitary data and further information please see below. Please select the geography type to see what indicators are available as not all are provided across the different footprints.

If the area has defaulted to 'Counties & UAs in North East region', click on the down arrowhead next to 'Geography', select 'Region' and then 'North West'. This is an issue which is not within our control, apologies. 

Page updated June 2025