With February being National Children’s Dental Health Month and dental health having an effect on appearance, general well-being and even earnings, the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2017’s States with the Best & Worst Dental Health.
In order to determine which places boast the best set of teeth in the U.S., WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 23 key metrics. The 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.”
| States with the Best Dental Health | States with the Worst Dental Health | ||||
| 1 | Minnesota | 42 | California | ||
| 2 | Wisconsin | 43 | Florida | ||
| 3 | Illinois | 44 | Alaska | ||
| 4 | North Dakota | 45 | Texas | ||
| 5 | Connecticut | 46 | Louisiana | ||
| 6 | Massachusetts | 47 | Mississippi | ||
| 7 | Michigan | 48 | Arkansas | ||
| 8 | District of Columbia | 49 | Montana | ||
| 9 | Iowa | 50 | Alabama | ||
| 10 | Ohio | 51 | West Virginia | ||
Best vs. Worst
- Rhode Island has the lowest 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), 37 percent, two times lower than in Georgia, which has the highest at 74 percent.
- Massachusetts has the most dentists per 100,000 residents, 51.75, 3.4 times more than in Tennessee, which has the fewest at 15.39.
- Connecticut has the lowest percentage of students in grades 9-12 who drank regular soda at least once per day during the 7 days before the survey, 11.9 percent, 2.7 times lower than in Kentucky, which has the highest at 32.4 percent.
- Utah has the lowest percentage of adult smokers, 9.0 percent, three times lower than in West Virginia, which has the highest at 27.2 percent.
- The District of Columbia has the highest percentage of the population who receive fluoridated water through public water systems (PWSs), 100.00 percent, 8.8 times higher than in Hawaii, which has the lowest at 11.30 percent.
- Minnesota, Hawaii and Illinois have the lowest percentage of adults with poor or fair oral condition, 22 percent, 1.8 times lower than in Montana, which has the highest at 40 percent.
- Hawaii has the lowest percentage of adults aged 65 and older with no natural teeth, 6.50 percent, 5.2 times lower than in West Virginia, which has the highest at 33.70 percent.
- Both Connecticut and Illinois have the lowest percentage of adults who have very often experienced pain in the past year due to their oral condition, 3 percent, 4.7 times lower than in California, which has the highest at 14 percent.
- North Dakota has the lowest percentage of adults whose life in general is very often less satisfying due to their oral condition, 2 percent, seven times lower than in Texas, which has the highest at 14 percent.
