Dental Health Facts

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One in five adults between the ages of 20 and 64 has at least one untreated cavity.¹

Dental checkups can detect oral cancer early.²

Children with dental cavities experienced an average of 5 more school absences per year.³

Tooth disorders account for an annual average of 1,944,000 emergency department visits.⁴

183 million productivity hours are lost yearly due to oral pain or unplanned dental visits.⁵

Gum disease has been linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s Disease.⁶

Having a dental check-up at least yearly allows for early detection of gum disease, as well as treatment.⁷

It is estimated that oral diseases affect nearly 3.7 billion people.⁸

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oral Health Surveillance Report: Dental Caries, Tooth Retention, and Edentulism (2017-2020) https://www.cdc.gov/oral-health/php/2024-oral-health-surveillance-report/index.html
2 National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, Oral Cancer (2020) https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/health-info/oral-cancer#treatment
3 Goulart MA, Sherriff A, Conway DI, McMahon AD. Poor child oral health and school absences: a population-wide data linkage study. J Epidemiol Community Health. Published online July 7, 2025. doi:10.1136/jech-2025-223754
4 Schappert SM, Santo L. Emergency department visits for tooth disorders: United States, 2020–2022. NCHS Data Brief. 2025 Jun;(531):1–11. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc/174597

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