CareQuest Institute’s annual State of Oral Health in America survey is the largest, nationally representative survey of US adults’ attitudes, experiences, and behaviors related to oral health. This year’s survey of 11,375 US adults shows that approximately 76 million adults do not have dental insurance, which often poses a considerable barrier to accessing necessary dental care.
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Key survey findings also highlight gaps in access to dental care that force millions of Americans to resort to extreme measures to receive care:
- 11 million adults (4%) seek dental care in hospital emergency departments
- 11 million adults (4%) travel outside the US for dental care
- 8 million adults (3%) see a nondental provider for dental care
The authors write:
Access to dental care continues to lag behind medical care, particularly for people who have lower incomes, who lack dental insurance, or who live in rural areas. Together, these results point to systemic gaps that leave many without timely and affordable oral health services.”
You may also be interested in:
- Crossing Borders for Care: Dental Tourism among US Adults, a visual report exploring who travels abroad for dental care and why.
- Oral Health in People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, a report analyzing barriers to dental care for people with disabilities and how those barriers affect their oral health outcomes.
- Health Data Exchange, an integrated data platform providing access to dental, medical, and social data, data dashboards, and AI tools to quickly find plain language answers to oral health questions.