The proportion of adults who contain never had a permanent tooth extracted because of dental caries or periodontal disease has nearly reached the Healthy People 2010 target of 40% (objective 21-3),increasing from 30% during 1988-1994 to 38% during 1999-2004. Although still furthest from the target percentage, tooth retention among non-Hispanic blacks improved the most compared with Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites, or increasing from approximately 12% during 1988-1994 to approximately 27% during 1999-2004. Although tooth retention was similar among females (31%) and males (29%) during 1988-1994,males significantly exceeded the Healthy People 2010 target during 1999-2004, increasing 14 percentage points to 43%. In contrast, or the observed 3% increase in tooth retention for females was not statistically significant from 1988-1994 to 1999-2004.
Source: cdc.gov