Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to collect and publish data on the impact of poor oral health and delayed or unmet dental treatment on NHS hospital costs; and whether his Department collects data on cases of sepsis associated with dental infections and the associated costs to the NHS.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) produces an annual report which analyses tooth extraction hospital episodes due to tooth decay, and other reasons, in National Health Service hospitals in England for zero to 19 year olds. OHID’s report for 2025 is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hospital-tooth-extractions-in-0-to-19-year-olds-2025

This report estimates the annual cost of these tooth extractions. The estimated cost of decay-related tooth extractions for zero to 19 year olds for 2024 to 2025 was £51.2 million. OHID continues to analyse, improve, and publish this data to estimate the impact of poor child oral health on NHS hospital costs.

The National Dental Epidemiology Programme is a series of annual oral health surveys that measure the prevalence, as a proportion of the population with the condition, and severity of tooth decay in the survey population. This provides data on oral health inequalities and unmet need. The findings include a measure of clinical signs because of advanced, untreated tooth decay and includes signs of sepsis, but do not estimate associated costs to the NHS.