Oral health is an important component of general health. Good oral health enables us to eat, speak and socialise without disease, pain, discomfort or embarrassment. The main oral diseases are tooth decay [known as dental caries] and gum disease [known as periodontal disease], both largely preventable diseases. In Wales, levels of tooth decay in young children remain unacceptably high, almost five times worse than the best areas in the UK. For adults, tooth decay is the most common disease in Wales and only one adult in every thousand has not experienced tooth decay.
Children
Information from a cycle of surveys of 5, 12 and 14 year-old children’s teeth is collected every year and the most recent national decennial survey Children’s Dental Health in Wales 2003 contains a large amount of data and information on this issue.
In Wales, over half of 5-year olds in 2003/04 had some experience of dental decay. The chart below shows the changes across Wales over the two most recent survey periods.The worst third as at 2003/04, (Blaenau Gwent, Newport and Torfaen) had made some small improvement, whilst a further four deteriorated (Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, RCT and Wrexham). In Merthyr Tydfl, the percentage of 5 year old children with decayed, missing or filled teeth is the worst in Wales.
The British Fluoridation Society have published a league table of dental health in 5-year olds in England, Scotland and Wales. It highlights the poor position of children in Wales. Of the 311 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and Health Boards in Scotland and Wales, half of Local Health Boards (LHBs) in Wales are positioned in the bottom 30 places of the League table. Merthyr Tydfil is shown to have the highest level of dmft [decayed, missing or filled tooth index] in the UK at 3.7 per child.
The latest study on 12 year-olds was carried out in 2004/05. This study recorded the oral health status of the permanent (adult) dentition. 
Adults
There is little detailed knowledge about adult dental health on a Unitary Authority basis in Wales. Most information on adult dental health is provided by the ONS Decennial Adult Dental Health Surveys,
A second source of data on adult dental health is available from the Welsh Health Surveys carried out in 1995, 1998 and 2004, which do provide data at Local Authority level. Data from the most recent Adult Dental Health Survey carried out in 1998 shows that in general, more individuals are keeping more of their natural teeth than was the case 20 years ago.