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In recent years, the oral health of Americans has improved significantly, although the vast majorities of adults in the US had cavities in 2011-2012, and according to a new data brief from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Having good oral health is important for healthy aging, and poor oral health impacts the quality of life by causing pain and limiting food choices. Many people will even avoid social interactions due to perceived poor oral health. While oral health among adults has dramatically improved since the 1960s, dentists point out that there still need to be more progress in improving oral health for all adults in the US.
Cavities and tooth loss are both important oral health indicators for adults, and serve as key measures for monitoring progress toward health promotion. The recent data brief describes US adult dental caries and tooth loss by age and race for 2011-2012, based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. During this period, around 91% of adults aged 20 to 64 had dental caries in permanent teeth, with a higher prevalence in adults between 35 and 64 years old (94% to 97%) compared with adults aged 20 to 34 (82%), according to the report. The prevalence of cavities was lower for Hispanic, Asian and black adults (85%, 85% and 86%, respectively) when compared with non-Hispanic white adults (94%). Overall, 27% of adults between 20 and 64 years old had untreated tooth decay, as well as 19% of adults 65 or older. Untreated tooth decay disproportionately affects some ethnic groups in the US, with a higher prevalence in Hispanic and black adults (36% and 42% respectively) when compared with non-Hispanic white and Asian (22% and 17%) adults.
Nearly 19% of adults 65 or older had no natural teeth remaining, with negligible difference between men and women. Edentulism was twice as prevalent among adults 75 or older when compared with their peers between 65 and 74. Among those 65 or older, complete tooth loss was lower for older Hispanic (15%) and non-Hispanic white (17%) adults when compared with older non-Hispanic black adults (29%). In addition, in the period of 2011-2012, 48% of adults between 20 and 64 hadn’t lost a tooth to dental disease. However, tooth decay also remains a problem in US children, especially teenagers, and more than half of children between 12 and 19 have one or more cavities in adult teeth.
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