Oral Health: Why It Matters and How to Protect It

Oral health is the health of the teeth, the gums and the whole mouth-and-face system. It lets us eat, speak, smile and show emotion — and poor oral health can bring pain, poorer school performance, lost productivity and a lower quality of life. Yet the oral diseases behind it, from cavities and gum disease to oral cancer, are largely preventable with a mix of professional care and self-care.

How common the problems are

Many children and adults suffer from the two most common oral diseases, cavities (tooth decay) and periodontal (gum) disease, both leading causes of tooth loss. In the United States:

• 57% of adolescents aged 12–19 have had cavities in their permanent teeth;
• among adults 20 and older, 90% or more, rising with age, have had them; and
• fewer than half of children aged 6–11 — 42% — have dental sealants, which prevent cavities, on any permanent tooth.

What it costs

Unplanned and emergency dental care costs Americans about 34 million school hours and 92 million work hours every year, and untreated oral disease costs roughly $46 billion a year in lost productivity (in 2015 dollars).

A link to overall health

Oral health is tied to health in general. Poor gum health, for example, can make blood sugar harder to control in people with diabetes, and a growing number of studies find that people with certain chronic conditions more often have untreated oral disease.

Common conditions

• Cavities
• Periodontal (gum) disease
• Oral cancer
• Tooth loss

Protecting your oral health

• Brush twice a day.
• Floss every day.
• Limit foods and drinks high in added sugar.
• See a dentist at least once a year for a check-up and professional cleaning, and go more often if your provider recommends it.

Oral disease may cause no pain or visible sign until it is advanced, which is one reason routine check-ups matter. A check-up is also a chance to talk with your provider about your own risks and how to protect your teeth and gums.

What CDC does

CDC's Division of Oral Health leads national efforts to improve oral health. It promotes proven measures that lower rates of cavities, especially for the people at highest risk, and supports the data collection that tracks progress.

• Community water fluoridation is a safe, cost-effective and widely accessible way to prevent cavities. Almost all water contains some natural fluoride; fluoridation adjusts it to the level recommended for preventing cavities. Drinking fluoridated water has been shown to reduce cavities by about 25% in children and adults — fluoride rebuilds, strengthens and protects the tooth's surface. CDC's My Water's Fluoride shows the fluoridation status of local water systems.
• School sealant programs. Dental sealants can prevent cavities for many years, and school programs are an effective way to protect children nationwide, especially those who might otherwise not get dental care.
• Surveillance. The division supports data collection on oral disease trends, access to dental care and how oral health affects quality of life — including through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which helps track several Healthy People 2030 objectives.
• More work: infection prevention and control guidelines for dental settings; bringing medical and dental care together; funding state, territorial and tribal oral health programs; the CDC Dental Public Health Residency Program; oral health research; and partnerships with organisations that share its mission.

Sources

Based on "About Oral Health," Oral Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Oral Health), May 15, 2024; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The section on what CDC does was missing from the imported page and is taken from the page as published.