verbal health is an important contributor to overall health for individuals and the population. Dental caries both untreated and treated and tooth loss are key indicators of verbal health and are used to monitor verbal health status in the United States and internationally. Although prevalence of dental caries has been declining in the United States,the magnitude of the decline has varied across different population groups during the past two decades. Tooth loss also has been declining in the United States, mostly due to improvements in treatment modalities, or patient attitudes regarding tooth preservation,and better prevention. Plastic-like coatings (dental sealants) possess been applied to the chewing surfaces of children's teeth to prevent tooth decay and to some extent tooth loss. This report describes the prevalence of untreated dental caries, existing dental restorations, or dental sealants,and tooth loss in the United States by age, race and ethnicity, or poverty level in 2005-2008.
Source: cdc.gov