The 2009 Adult Dental Health Survey (ADHS) is the fifth in a series of national dental surveys that have been carried out every decade since 1968. The main purpose of these surveys has been to get a picture of the dental health of the adult population and how this has changed over time. The tables in the report are available to download in Excel format in the ADHS tables in Excel format.zip file

The Adult Dental Health Survey (ADHS) is carried out every ten years, and investigates people's dental health, their experiences of dental care and their access to dental services. The survey results provide important information about the dental health of the nation. This information helps health authorities to effectively plan local dental services and shows the extent to which government dental health targets are being met. The results from the different surveys can be compared to allow changes over time to be understood.

The first survey was conducted in 1968 in England and Wales. Similar surveys were also conducted in Scotland in 1972 and in Northern Ireland in 1979. The second ADHS was conducted in England and Wales in 1978. None of these earlier surveys are available from the UK Data Archive. The third survey was conducted in 1988 and was extended to include adults in Scotland and Northern Ireland providing estimates for the whole of the United Kingdom (available from the Archive under SN 2834). The fourth was conducted in 1998 (available under SN 4226) and also covered the whole of the UK. The latest survey in the series took place in 2009 and was carried out in England, Wales and Northern Ireland only (available under SN 6884).
The Adult Dental Health Survey, 2009 was commissioned by the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care. As with previous surveys the purpose of the ADHS 2009 was to provide information on the state of adults’ teeth and dental health and to measure changes in dental health over time. The specific aims of the survey were to:

• establish the condition of the natural teeth and supporting tissues
• investigate dental experiences, knowledge about and attitudes towards dental care and oral hygiene
• determine the state and use made of dentures worn in conjunction with natural teeth
• examine changes over time in dental health, attitudes and behaviour
• monitor the extent to which dental health targets set by the government are being met.

For the second edition (August 2012), a new version of the data file was supplied. The depositor has provided the following note: "An updated version of the ADHS 2009 dataset was deposited in August 2012. The Index of Multiple Deprivation variables, IMDE_D, IMDW_D and IMDNI_D, as specified in the documentation, have been included as these were originally omitted in error. The Health and Social Care Information Centre and Office for National Statistics apologise for any inconvenience caused by this omission."