National Dental Epidemiology Programme – Oral Health Survey of 3-year-olds

What are the surveys for?

The aim of the survey is to measure the prevalence and severity of dental caries experience among 3 year old children within each lower tier local authority, in order to:

• assess local oral health needs
• provide comparisons with children of the same age in the previous 2020 survey
• provide comparisons locally, regionally and between countries of the UK
• inform local oral health improvement strategies, programmes and interventions

Who can participate?

SETTINGS eligible for inclusion in the random sampling procedure will be Ofsted registered in England AND:

• be group-based early years settings
• meet in non-domestic premises
• include nurseries, both state-funded and private, nursery classes attached to schools, pre-schools and playgroups

EXCLUDED SETTINGS:

• Not registered or not yet registered with Ofsted
• Childminders or settings exclusively for children with special needs
• before and after school settings or temporary / occasional provision
• holiday clubs, leisure or study clubs.

CHILDREN eligible for participation are those who:

• attend a randomly selected setting (eligible as per the list above) for at least 3 hours a week
• AND have reached the age of 3 years but have not had their 4th birthday on the date of examination
• AND have parental agreement to participate.
• AND have not participated in the survey through another setting

SAMPLE SIZE: each fieldwork team will have a target number of children to examine, and a target number of settings from which to invite participants.

How can our early years setting support the survey?

If your setting is selected during the random sampling process, you can help with this important data gathering programme, by accepting the invitation to participate. By accepting the invitation your potential responsibilities include:

• agree a date with the fieldwork team for them to visit – this would ideally be a day where the majority of eligible children are due to attend.
• ensure that the parents or guardians of eligible children are provided with the oral health survey parental agreement form and the ‘Information for Parents’ leaflet
• arrange for fieldwork teams to receive the signed parental agreement forms
• inform the fieldwork team which children have parental agreement to receive a dental examination.
• crosscheck the parental agreement forms on the day of examination

Follow this link to watch a video of what the survey visits look like. School dental surveys.

Data Sharing

Where agreement to participate has been received, early years providers are required to provide the following information to the fieldwork team. The information must be sent using secure email, or, if provided in hard copy, sent to the fieldwork team by registered post or handed over in person.

• first name and surname (to identify the child and check receipt of parental agreement)
• date of birth (to confirm eligibility and to distinguish between children with the same name)
• home postcode (enables analyses of differences in oral health)
• sex at birth (helps confirm child’s identity and enables analyses of differences in oral health)
• ethnic group (enables analyses of differences in oral health)
• multiple birth status (helps when checking for duplication errors)

What about GDPR?

All local authorities in England have a statutory duty to undertake oral health surveys as part of a programme to help improve the oral health of people in their area. The official authority for these surveys is provided by The NHS Bodies and Local Authorities (Partnership Arrangements, Care Trusts, Public Health and Local Healthwatch) Regulations 2012.

• The official authority for oral health surveys means that the lawful basis under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 for processing children’s personal information for this purpose is considered to be necessary and therefore legal for: compliance with a legal obligation (GDPR Article 6(1)(c)); the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority (GDPR Article 6(1)(e)); reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law) (GDPR Article 9(g)); medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems (GDPR Article 9(2)(h)).
• This lawful basis for oral health surveys means that early years providers do not need to obtain the consent of parents or guardians to share their children’s personal information with fieldwork teams. This imperative is described in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, underpinned by Statutory Instrument 2012 number 3094.
• The principles of the GDPR have been adhered to in the designing of this protocol. However, as oral health surveys involve a physical examination, early years providers and fieldwork teams must ensure that a) written parental agreement is obtained for the examination to take place and b) parents are provided with a copy of the ‘Office for Health Improvement and Disparities National Dental Health Survey: Information for Parents’ leaflet, which explains what the dental examination involves, the personal data processed about each child and the organisations this personal data may be shared with. This document acts as the privacy notice for the survey. A note about the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and early years providers oral health surveys is provided.