Posted by: Richie Bernardo

Many people dread visiting their dentist — let alone brushing and flossing once or twice a day. Some even fear seeing a dental professional, evident in the sheer number of websites, articles and support forums devoted to the topics of dental anxiety and phobia. Others simply can’t afford dental work.

Despite the hassle, expense and sometimes pain of maintaining them, a healthy set of chompers can go a long way. A brilliant smile is known to do wonders to a person’s self-esteem, and oral health tends to speak volumes about one’s general well-being.

But you won’t achieve a killer smile just by brushing and flossing. Where you live can directly affect your dental health, too — especially if you’re a woman. According to researchers at Columbia University, “women who resided in communities with fluoridated water during childhood earn approximately 4% more than women who did not,” adding that they found “no effect of fluoridation for men.” The loss of a tooth, on the other hand, can cost “an urban-residing woman earning $11/hour and working full time” approximately $720 in annual earnings. Besides that, oral diseases result in global productivity losses and treatment costs totaling an estimated $442 billion per year.

In order to determine which places boast the best teeth in the U.S., WalletHub’s data team compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 23 key indicators of dental health. Our data set ranges from “share of adolescents who visited a dentist in the past year” to “dental treatment costs” to “share of adults with low life satisfaction due to oral condition.” Read on for our findings, additional insight from dental experts and a full description of our methodology.

1. Main Findings
2. Ask the Experts
3. Methodology

Main Findings Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/31498/geochart-dental.html" width="556" height="347" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:556px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="http://ift.tt/2jCiowO;

 

Overall Rank	State	Total Score	‘Dental Habits & Care’ Rank	‘Oral Health’ Rank
1	Minnesota	82.20	1	3
2	Wisconsin	77.85	2	7
3	Illinois	75.96	9	1
4	North Dakota	73.12	5	9
5	Connecticut	72.28	17	2
6	Massachusetts	70.31	6	13
7	Michigan	69.74	12	11
8	District of Columbia	68.24	31	6
9	Iowa	67.87	3	16
10	Ohio	66.84	28	8
11	Rhode Island	66.43	4	20
12	Idaho	65.04	23	12
13	Indiana	64.22	16	15
14	Nebraska	64.13	11	21
15	New Jersey	63.92	44	4
16	Washington	63.51	36	10
17	Maryland	63.36	10	26
18	South Dakota	62.82	22	14
19	Kansas	62.32	18	22
20	New York	61.66	7	30
21	Delaware	61.62	20	18
22	Virginia	61.43	8	27
23	Georgia	60.67	26	17
24	North Carolina	59.50	14	31
25	New Hampshire	59.18	15	29
26	Pennsylvania	59.01	25	25
27	Oregon	58.77	30	24
28	Hawaii	58.29	50	5
29	Arizona	57.40	35	19
30	Missouri	57.19	32	23
31	Colorado	57.02	13	38
32	Vermont	56.55	19	34
33	Utah	53.32	24	39
34	Kentucky	52.70	21	41
35	Nevada	51.76	37	33
36	New Mexico	51.01	41	32
37	Wyoming	50.01	40	35
38	Oklahoma	47.19	49	28
39	Maine	47.08	47	36
40	South Carolina	46.05	46	40
41	Tennessee	45.71	48	37
42	California	44.69	34	45
43	Florida	44.42	42	42
44	Alaska	44.30	29	46
45	Texas	43.70	27	47
46	Louisiana	43.09	43	43
47	Mississippi	38.56	38	49
48	Arkansas	37.83	39	50
49	Montana	37.21	45	48
50	Alabama	36.98	51	44
51	West Virginia	36.40	33	51

 

Ask the Experts

To help you brush up on the importance and benefits of good dental care, we asked a panel of experts in health and family studies to weigh in with their insights. Click on the panelists’ profiles below to read their bios and thoughts on the following key questions:

1. What tips do you have for a person who wishes to maintain dental health without breaking the bank?
2. Beyond brushing and flossing, what are the most important habits and behaviors to teach children to ensure they have good dental hygiene?
3. Should cities and towns add fluoride to drinking water to improve dental health? What are the pros and cons of doing so?
4. Should school sealant programs be extended more aggressively, especially in low-income areas in order to better prevent tooth decay in the school-aged population?
5. How can dental health care be made more affordable?
6. Should dental coverage be included as part of standard health insurance or covered by Medicaid?

Methodology

In order to determine the places with the best dental health in the U.S., WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key dimensions, including “Dental Habits & Health” and “Oral Health.”

We examined those dimensions using 23 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for dental health.

We then calculated overall scores for each state and the District using its weighted average across all metrics and constructed our final ranking based on the resulting scores.

Dental Habits & Care – Total Points: 50

• Share of Adolescents Who Visited a Dentist in the Past Year: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
• Share of Adults Who Visited a Dentist in the Past Year: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
• Dental Treatment Costs: Double Weight (~6.24 Points)Note: “Dental Treatment” includes cleaning, crowns, root canals and tooth extraction.
• Reduced Dentist Visits Due to Costs: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of the population who didn’t visit the dentist more frequently due to costs (among those without a visit in the past 12 months).
• Dentists per Capita: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
• Share of Population Living in Dental HPSAs (Health Professional Shortage Areas): Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
• Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption Among Adolescents: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
• Share of Adult Smokers: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
• Share of Population Who Receive Fluoridated Water Through PWSs (Public Water Systems): Full Weight (~3.13 Points)
• Presence of State Oral Health Plan: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)Note: This is a binary metric that considers the presence or absence of state oral health plans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “A state oral health plan is a roadmap for accomplishing the goals and objectives that have been developed in collaboration with partners and stakeholders, including the state oral health coalition, and members from the public health, dental and medical communities. A comprehensive state oral health plan should be used to direct skilled personnel and funding decisions to reduce the prevalence of oral disease.”
• Presence of School-Based Dental Sealant Programs: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)Note: This is a binary metric that considers the presence or absence of school-based dental sealant programs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “School-based sealant programs provide pit and fissure sealants to children in a school setting. These programs generally target vulnerable populations that may be at greater risk for developing decay and less likely to receive preventive care.”
• Medicaid Dental Benefits for Adults: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)Note: This metric measures the number of benefits, if any, provided to adults in the state through Medicaid. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “States have flexibility to determine what dental benefits are provided to adult Medicaid enrollees. While most states provide at least emergency dental services for adults, less than half of the states currently provide comprehensive dental care. There are no minimum requirements for adult dental coverage.”
• Presence of State Dental Periodicity Schedule: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)Note: This is a binary metric that considers the presence or absence of state dental periodicity schedules. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Early and periodic screening, diagnostic and treatment (EPSDT) services are required services under the Medicaid program for most individuals under age 21. EPSDT … includes periodic screening, vision, dental, and hearing services and other necessary health services. Schedules specifying the content and periodicity of these services are to be established by each state after consultation with recognized medical organizations involved in child health care (in the case of screening, vision and hearing services) and dental organizations (in the case of dental services).”
• Status of Older Adult Basic Screening Survey: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)Note: This metric measures the status of a state’s Older Adult Basic Screening Survey (BSS) administration — more specifically, whether the state has completed (and how long ago) or is planning an Older Adult BSS. According to Oral Health America, a BSS “a surveillance of the oral health conditions of seniors in community and long-term-care settings of older adults.”
• Oral Health Knowledge Index: Full Weight (~3.13 Points)

Oral Health – Total Points: 50

• Poor or Fair Oral Condition: Double Weight (~10.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of adults whose mouths and teeth are in poor or fair condition.
• Share of Elderly Population with No Natural Teeth: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: “Elderly Population” includes the population aged 65 and older.
• Pain Due to Oral Condition: Double Weight (~10.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of adults who have experienced pain in the past year due to the condition of their mouths and teeth.
• Dry Mouth Due to Oral Condition: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of adults who have experienced dry mouths in the past year due to the condition of their mouths and teeth.
• Sleeping Problems Due to Oral Condition: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of adults who have experienced problems sleeping in the past year due to the condition of their mouths and teeth.
• Reduced Life Satisfaction Due to Oral Condition: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of adults whose lives in general are less satisfying due to the condition of their mouths and teeth.
• Reduced Social Participation Due to Oral Condition: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of the population who have experienced reduced social participation in the past year due to the condition of their mouths and teeth.
• Work Absence Due to Oral Condition: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of the population who have taken days off from work in the past year due to the condition of their mouths and teeth.

 

Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Healthy Grid, American Dental Association, Health Resources & Services Administration, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and Oral Health America.

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