About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides information on findings of the Detailed Inspection Programme of Primary 1 (P1) children in school year 2023/24. NDIP is carried out annually under the auspices of the Scottish Dental Epidemiology Co-ordinating Committee on behalf of NHS Boards.

Main points

• In 2024, nearly three-quarters (73.2%) of P1 children examined showed no obvious decay experience. This is similar to 2020 (73.5%).

A line chart. The percentage of P1 children reported to be free from obvious decay experience increased steadily from 45.0 % in 2003 to 73.5% in 2020, before levelling to 73.2% in 2024 (Figure 3).

Close

The percentage of P1 children in Scotland with no obvious decay experience; 1988-2024¹

1. The NDIP inspection programme did not take place in 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2. SHBDEP, a series of annual surveys of key age groups of Scottish children, ran from 1987 to 2001. For further information, see publication.

• The average number of teeth affected by obvious decay experience continued to decline to 0.99 in 2024 - a significant improvement from 2.76 in 2003, when NDIP was first introduced.
• Child oral health inequalities remain with 60.1% of children living in the most deprived areas having no obvious decay experience, compared to 83.6% in the least deprived areas.

Background

The principal aims of the programme are to inform parents/carers of the dental health status of their children and through appropriately anonymised, aggregated data, advise the Scottish Government, NHS Boards and other organisations concerned with children’s health of dental disease prevalence at national and local levels. This ensures that reliable dental health information is available for planning initiatives directed towards health improvements.

Two school year groups are involved: i) at entry into Local Authority schools in primary one (P1) and ii) in P7 before the move to secondary education. The Programme has two levels: a Basic Inspection (intended for all P1 and P7 children each year) and a Detailed Inspection (where a representative sample of either the P1 or the P7 age group is inspected in alternate years).

For the Detailed Inspection a minimum number of 250 children are inspected in each NHS Board area within a minimum of 20 mainstream schools. Some NHS Boards sample at Health and Social Care Partnership level to help local planning and targeting of resources. A 2-stage sampling procedure is carried out, firstly a random sample of schools and from within that a random sample of classrooms. A stratified sampling method is used, which takes into account the school's size. There are robust methods for training and calibrated dental inspection teams from all Boards. Analysis is undertaken in collaboration with the University of Glasgow

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 27 October 2026 (the 2025 report will cover the Detailed Inspection of P7 children).