Dental AI company Pearl has released its Oral Health Index, the first radiographic census of American oral health, based on an analysis of more than 26 million dental X-rays across 15 million patients.
The index compares findings from Pearl’s radiographic data to that of the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which assesses the health of 25,000 adults and children in the U.S.
Six notes from the index:
- Pearl’s AI found that the share of Americans with untreated decay is at least 4.5 times higher than federal data suggests. The CDC’s NHANES survey estimates that 21% of adults have untreated decay. Pearl’s dataset found an average of 6.07 decayed teeth per patient, compared to 0.7 in NHANES.
- The index shows that young adults have the most neglected mouths. More than half of all dental disease in adults ages 18–24 is untreated. The crossover point does not occur until ages 35–44.
- Hawaii has the lowest disease burden out of all states, with 9.63 teeth showing signs of decay, loss or restoration, and the fewest extractions. Delaware has the highest burden at 14.22. Kansas has the highest extraction rate, with nearly 1 in 10 affected teeth extracted rather than restored.
- Patients in zip codes with no dentists lost 40% more teeth than those in zip codes with 51 or more dentists. Patients in dental deserts who do receive care are more likely to lose the tooth entirely, often because extraction is more affordable than restoration.
- Across 282 dental offices each seeing 200 or more adult patients, the bottom 10% of practices detected 3.1 affected teeth per patient while the top 10% detected 12.4.
- American women are 28% more likely to visit a dentist than men, making up 56.2% of U.S. patients vs. 43.8% men.
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