Dental Visits By The Numbers

In our continuing effort to examine the state of the dental health of those living in the U.S., a recent Gallup poll survey finds that 1 out of every 3 Americans have not been to the dentist in the past year.   When broken down into racial and ethnic groups, the survey found that Blacks and Hispanics were less likely to have visited the dentist when compared to Whites and Asians.  The results were comparable to the survey done in 2008.

Another interesting tidbit revealed on the survey is that when broken down into areas of the country, people that live in the Northeast tend to go to the dentist more often whilst the people in the South surveyed the lowest.  Connecticut had the highest percentage of people who indicated that they visit the dentist once a year while Mississippi had the lowest rate.

The survey concludes that the higher the socio-economic level of the person, the more likely it is that he/she will go to the dentist.  That does make sense because visiting a dentist is not usually high on the list of things to do on an everyday schedule and it would most likely be all the way down the end of the list especially if the person is not that financially stable.