The Children's Dental Health Survey is conducted every ten years in order to collect information on the dental health of children. While previous surveys covered children ages five to fifteen years, the 2003-2004 survey focused only on ages five, eight, twelve and fifteen.

10,381 children were given dental examinations at school. From those participants 5,480 were sent questionnaires in a random sub-sample, and 3,342 were returned.