The report also showed stark ethnic inequalities in regards to tooth decay rate, with Asian children having the highest rate among all ethnicities, apart from those belonging to an “other” ethnic group which had a tooth decay rate of just under half (45.4%).
Asian five-year-olds in England 70% more likely to have tooth decay than average Children in most deprived areas more than twice as likely to have decay as those in least deprived parts, data shows.
The report said the inequalities in the prevalence of tooth decay across England had essentially stalled, stating: “Inequalities in prevalence of dentinal decay in five-year-old schoolchildren significantly reduced from 2008 to 2015 but there has been little change in inequalities since then.”.
The report, published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, also found that five-year-olds living in the most deprived areas of England were more than twice as likely to have tooth decay (32.2%) as those living in the least deprived areas (13.6%).
Within the Asian ethnicity, children from the Pakistani ethnic group (43.2%) had a greater prevalence of tooth decay than children from a Chinese background (24.6%).
