The National Adult Dental Health Survey will be carried out in September following last year's postponement.
The survey, which had taken place every 10 years since 1968, was put on hold by chief dental officer Barry Cockcroft in May 2008 due to a 'departmental reorganisation'.
Conducted by the Office of National Statistics in partnership with various research centres, the survey will involve around 9,000 randomly selected adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland being interviewed about attitudes to dental hygiene and treatment.
Each person 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, combined with results from earlier surveys, will help identify the state of the adult nation's oral health, as well as current dental health trends.
Dennis Roberts, from the ONS, said: "The Adult Dental Health Survey has an important role to play in establishing how patterns of tooth retention and dental hygiene have changed since the last survey was carried out in 1998."
"It's a vital snapshot that will help NHS dentists improve treatment in years to come," he added.




