Super Fun Dental Facts

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60% of people don’t know that a sore jaw, when combined with chest pain, can signal a heart attack – especially in women.

32% of Americans cite bad breath as the least attractive trait of their co-workers.

38.5 = the total days an average American spends brushing their teeth over a lifetime.

73% of Americans would rather go grocery shopping than floss.

Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans.

Every year, kids in North America spend close to half a billion dollars on chewing gum.

The number of cavities in the average mouth is down and people are keeping their teeth longer.   People, on average, have healthier mouths than even 10 years ago.  Specifically:

—The decline in tooth decay was greatest among kids but holds across every age group.
—Only 40% of  young people age 6 to 19 had ever had cavities.  That’s down from 50% a decade ago.
—Over the last ten years the proportion of people age 60 who’d lost all their teeth had decreased from 33% to 25%.
—Use of dental sealants, which block tooth decay on the chewing surfaces of kids’ vulnerable molars, was up 64%.  30% of kids had had at least one sealed tooth.
—Adults with post high school degrees had an average of three more teeth than those without a high school diploma.
—Smokers remain three times more likely than non-smokers to lose all their teeth.  This figure has not changed from a decade ago.
—Socio-economic status plays a definite role in one’s general and dental health; 33% of low-income adults have untreated decay.  This is compared with 16% of middle- and higher-income adults.  19% of kids living in poverty have untreated decay compared with 8% of wealthier kids.

More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.

Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different.

The average toothbrush contains about 2,500 bristles grouped into about 40 tufts per toothbrush.  The tufts are folded over a metal staple and forced into pre-cored holes in the head and fused into the head with heat.  The handle is made of at least two materials, usually plastic and rubber.  The grips used for the handle is: precision, power, spoon, oblique and distal oblique.

The average woman smiles about 62 times a day! A man? Only 8!

Kids laugh around 400 times a day. Grown-ups laugh about 15 times.

Smilers in school yearbooks are more likely to have successful careers and marriages than poker-faced peers.

According to a 1997 Gallup Poll, dentistry is the fifth most trusted profession in America. Another recent Gallup Poll indicated that dentists generally get high marks from consumers for their interpersonal skills and delivery of quality care.

A survey by Louis Harris and Associates reported that 83% of American adults were very satisfied with services received from their dentists. A recent Gallup Poll also reported that 92% of the respondents stated that they would recommend their dentist to someone else.

Tooth decay remains the most common chronic disease among children ages 5-17 with 59% affected.

More than 51 million hours of school are lost each year by children due to dental related illness.

Employed adults lose more than 164 million hours of work each year due to oral health problems or dental visits.

Just 40% of children in poor or near-poor poverty levels had a preventive dental visit in the past year.

44% of dental care expenditures are paid out-of-pocket.

How people take care of their mouths is often a reflection about how they feel about themselves.  At birth, the only fully developed organ is the tongue.  It is needed for sucking.  For the first two months of life our mouth is our primary organ.  We use it for survival, expressing ourselves and to explore our new world.  Consequently, it is very significant in our unconscious actions.

Dentists rate big (61%) in ethics poll for honesty and trustworthiness.

Responding to the 2003 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index survey, 34% of teens and 42% of adults chose the toothbrush first when asked to select the invention they could not live without from among five choices. The other four: the personal computer, automobile, microwave and cell phone.

The survey of 1,000 people in Britain asked a range of teeth-related questions. Almost half the men polled said they would have teeth-whitening treatment compared with 35% of women. Good teeth and a nice smile came second in the list of what females look for in men, after eyes. For me,n a good body was the important thing they look for, followed by eyes, hair, and teeth.

There is someone whose job includes squeezing Prince Charles’s toothpaste onto the royal toothbrush. That someone is Michael Fawcett, the prince’s personal valet. Since Fawcett is, according to various news reports, the only person Charles trusts with this awesome responsibility, one must presume that the heir to the throne’s dental hygiene declines precipitously whenever the valet goes on vacation.

Americans spent nearly $2.025 billion on Halloween candy this year. That would fund the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for almost six years.

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A poll conducted in Michigan showed that Republicans, Protestants and women brush their teeth more often than Democrats, Catholics & men. 2% of those polled said they don’t brush at all.

94% of Americans say they brush nightly’ 81% say they do it first thing in the morning.

75% of the US population has some form of periodontal gum disease.

50% of Americans do not receive regular oral healthcare.

Floss Facts:

• Year commercial floss was first manufactured: 1882
• Material it was first made of: silk
• Newest material: Gore-tex
• Amount bought per person: 18 yards
• Amount that should be bought per person: 122 yards (figuring one foot a day)
• Percent who say they floss daily: 28% (some are fibbing, according to the sales data above)
• In 1994 a prison inmate in West Virginia braided floss into a rope, scaled the wall and escaped.

83% of people believe their teeth are more important to their appearance than hair and eyes, according to a survey conducted by Roper ASW in conjunction with ReachMax.

33% of Americans have untreated tooth decay.

In children under age 16, regular brushing with fluoridated toothpaste results in 24% fewer cavities than does brushing with non-fluoridated toothpaste.

People who drink 3 or more sugary sodas daily have 62% more dental decay, fillings and tooth loss.

78% of Americans have had at least 1 cavity by age 17.

90% of systemic disease have oral manifestations.

You are not “too old for good dental care.” The average 65 year old has 17.3 years of life remaining!

$1.8 Billion dollars is the total annual amount consumers spend on toothpaste.

Colgate Palmolive Company now has 34.6% share of the US toothpaste market. When they introduced Simply White tooth-whitening product, they gained a 30% share of the at-home whitening market.                        .

74% of Americans are affected by some type of periodontal or gum disease or gingivitis.

$775 Million dollars is the total annual consumer spending on toothbrushes.

$885 Million dollars is the total annual consumer spending on oral antiseptics/rinses.

The most valuable tooth belonged to Sir Isaac Newton.  In 1816, one of his teeth was sold in London for $3,633.00 or in today’s terms $35,700.00  The tooth was set in a ring.

Students ages 5-17 years missed 1,611,000 school days in 1996 due to acute dental problems-an average of 3.1 days per 100 students.

According to the Academy of General Dentistry, the average person only brushes for 45 to 70 seconds a day.  The recommended amount of time is 2-3 minutes.

Two ‘Fs’: Fluoride (use fluoride toothpaste daily) & Frequency (avoid frequent snacking between meals): this is the practical way to help avoid dental decay.

People with red hair are more sensitive to pain and consequently need more anesthetic during operations than other patients. Those with red hair needed 20 percent more aesthetic to numb the pain, according to New Scientist.

Americans spent $21 billion on candy in 2001. That is more than the gross national products of Lituania, Costa Rica and Mozambique combined.

Sugar Facts: Chemical manufacturers use sugar to grow penicillin. A teaspoon of sugar after a hot curry will extinguish the furnace in your mouth. A spoonful of sugar added to a vase will prolong the life of freshly cut flowers.

More than 300 types of bacteria make up dental plaque.

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A total of 11 teeth from 9 adults who lived between 7,500 and 9,000 years ago contain holes drilled with sharpened flint points, according to a report in Science News Online. Flint-wielding specialists drilled holes, which are believed to have been filled with some type of material. The teeth came from residents of a prehistoric farming village called Mahrgarh in what is now Pakistan.