Top of the American teeth stakes in the poll for greatest looking teeth were Hollywood actors Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. 

     AAP’s recent consumer survey found:

    32% of Americans cite bad breath as the least attractive trait of their co-workers.
   38.5 total days an average American spends brushing teeth over lifetime.
   73% of Americans would rather go grocery shopping than floss.

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

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

  38.5 = the total days an average American spends brushing 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 (6) 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 in their lives 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 compared with 16% of middle- and higher-income adults.  19% of kids living in poverty have untreated decay compared with 8% of wealthier kids. CDC & ADA 1/06

ADA video news releases: Visit ADA org: Video

More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.

  Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different 

The average toothbrush contains about 2,5000 bristles grouped into about 40 tufts per toothbrush.  The tufts are folded over a metal staple and forced onto 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. AGD Impact 2/2003

The average woman smiles about 62 times a day!
A man?  Only 8!
Kids laugh around 400 times a day.
Grown-ups just 15:-(
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 percent of American adults were very satisfied with services received from their dentists. A recent Gallup Poll also reported that 92 percent or the respondents stated that they would recommend their dentist to someone else.
IDF  Joseph Chamberlain, D.D.S

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 level had a preventive dental visit in the past year.

44% of dental care expenditures are paid out-of-pocket.
Source: Issue Briefs on Challenges for the 21st Century: Chronic and Disabling Conditions

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 for survival,  expressing ourselves and to explore our new world.  consequently it
is very significant in our unconscious.  Because of this it is my opinion that how we take care of our mouths is a reflection of how we feel about ourselves.  People who feel good about themselves take good care of their mouth and people who have a poor self image generally do not take good care of their mouth.  Marvin Mansky

What is it? Click on pictures to find out!
 

Dentists rate big (61%) in ethics poll for honesty and trustworthy AGD Impact pg 8 March 2004.

Responding to the 2003 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index survey, 34 percent of teens and 42 percent 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 cellular phone.(2003)

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 men a good body was the important thing they look for, followed by eyes, hair, and teeth.

Royal smile -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. [MSNBC.com]

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. (ADA Nov 2002)

A poll conducted in Michigan showed that Republicans, Protestants & women brush their teeth more often than Democrats, Catholics & men. 2% of those polled said they don't brush at all. Cited: RepConnect #13 June 2003

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Flossed 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.

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33% of Americans have untreated tooth decay. (CDC, 2002)

In children under age 16, regular brushing with fluoridated toothpaste results in 24 percent fewer cavities than does brushing with non-fluoridated toothpaste. (Cochrane.org)

Percent of Persons Ages 2-17 with a Dental Visit in the Past Year: 74.1% (2000) 
Percent of Persons Ages 18-64 with a Dental Visit in the Past Year: 65.3% (2000)
Percent of Persons Ages 65 and Over with a Dental Visit in the Past Year: 56.4% (2000)

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 (CDC, 2002)

90% of systemic disease have oral manifestations. (AGD, 2002)

You are not "to old for good dental care" the average 65 year old has 17.3 years of life remaining!

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$1.8 Billion dollars is the total annual consumer spending on toothpaste. (ACNielsen, 2002) 

Colgate Palmolive Company now has 34.6% share of the US toothpaste market. Its recently introduced Simply White tooth-whitening product 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. (AGD, 2002)

$775 Million dollars is the total annual consumer spending on toothbrushes. (ACNielsen, 2002)

$885 Million dollars if the total annual consumer spending on oral antiseptics/rinses. (ACNielsen, 2002)*

Someone should invent “Tooth Paper”…which would work just like “Toilet Paper.” Then people will understand that it’s important to wipe off what goes in just as much as what comes out! Stated by Mike Maroon :-)

51 Million school hours per years are lost because of dental related illness. (Surgeon General David Satcher)

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. (Source: Guinness World Records 2002)

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. (Surgeon General David Satcher)

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

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 per cent more aesthetic to numb the pain, according to New Scientist. Oct 2002

Dentistry is affordable:
Dentistry:  $50 Billion
Pet food:  $50 Billion
Hair care:  $100 Billion
Gambling (legal):  $300 Billion

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American sweet tooth... Did you know…Americans spent $21 billion on candy in 2001. That is more than the gross national products of Lituania, Costa Rica and Mozambique combined. [Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter 2002 November: 3]

$1.8 billion is the total annual consumer spending on toothpaste.

More than 300 types of bacteria make up dental plaque.

Earliest Known Dental Work 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. (Source: Coppa, A., D.W. Frayer, R. Macchiarelli, 2006, Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry. Nature 440 (April 6):755-756

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