The latest of the decennial surveys of the United Kingdom was undertaken in
1998 by the Office of National Statistics in collaboration with the dental
schools of the Universities of Birmingham, Dundee, Newcastle and Wales, De
ntate adults in 1998 have fewer missing teeth and more sound and untreated
teeth on average than in 1978, The average number of decayed teeth has drop
ped significantly from 1.9 in 1978 to 1.1 in 1998. The average number of fi
lled teeth has remained fairly constant over the same time but its distribu
tion has changed quite markedly towards older adults having more filled tee
th than people of a similar age in the past whilst the reverse is true for
younger adults. The overall trends are encouraging, but there is a need to
review the way disease is managed in adults in the United Kingdom.