child screening programme

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Dental disease

This recommendation has been archived and is no longer regularly reviewed by the UK NSC.

Tooth decay is also known as dental decay and dental caries. It is caused by a bacterial infection of your teeth.

Read more about dental decay on the NHS website.

The UK NSC agreed there was not enough evidence to support a recommendation for population screening for dental disease in children. Committee members acknowledged that prevention of dental disease is very important for schoolchildren. However, it falls outside the scope of the UK NSC’s responsibilities, and the committee therefore decided not to do another routine evidence review and to archive this topic.

The UK NSC will reopen this topic if new evidence becomes available that is likely to have a significant effect on the recommendation. Stakeholders can also submit an annual call proposal for the UK NSC to reopen the topic if new evidence becomes available.

Delivering better oral health: an evidence-based toolkit for prevention sets out interventions for tooth decay and other oral health issues, as well as the evidence base for those interventions. A range of other resources to improve children’s oral health are also published on GOV.UK.

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