The National Adult Dental Health Survey 2009 is set to finally get underway on October 5, after a delay of nearly 18 months.
After taking place every 10 years since 1968, the survey was delayed last year by chief dental officer for England, Barry Cockcroft, due to a "departmental reorganisation", and was rescheduled for September this year.
The survey aims to give a snapshot of the current state of the adult nation's oral health by investigating Britons’ attitudes towards dental hygiene and treatment.
As part of the research, which is being conducted by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and some dental schools, around 10,000 randomly sampled adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will have their teeth examined by 80 NHS dentists .
Each adult taking part will be interviewed about their attitude to dental care and will then be invited to take part in a 20-minute dental examination carried out in their own home by an NHS dentist .
The findings will then be combined with results from the earlier surveys to help identify trends in dental health and in ways people seek treatment.
The dentists have been recruited by the five university dental schools taking part in the research - Birmingham, Cardiff, Dundee, Newcastle and University College London .




