Study: The 'tooth' behind dental health in North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — Dental health, while often overlooked, is an essential part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Making sure your mouth is in good shape can not only make trips to the dentist less painful, but also reduce the risk of problems like gum diseases or oral cancer.

For those who are hoping to keep their pearly whites clean and neat, it’s important to both maintain your own oral care regimen and find a place where qualified dentists can aid you in fixing any problems that may arise. However, with overall treatment costs, the number of sugary beverages consumed, and the presence of fluoridated water, different states can experience different levels of oral health overall. So, where does North Dakota stand when it comes to dental demands?

In order to rank the states by their overall level of oral health, WalletHub compared all 50 (as well as the District of Columbia) across two key dimensions: Dental Habits and Health and Oral Health. These two main categories were then examined using 26 relevant metrics (including Dentists per Capita, the cost of Dental treatments, and the number of those who suffer due to poor oral conditions). These metrics were then graded on a 100-point scale.

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The weighted averages of the states across all metrics were then used to calculate each state’s rank. Below are the top ten states with the highest scores when it comes to dental health in the US, as well as where they placed in regard to each of the two main dimensions.

With scores in the highest ten positions in both Dental Habits and Care and Oral Health, it stands to reason that North Dakota would place in the top ten overall as well. In ND’s case, our Dental Habits and Care ranks in the top five, while Oral Health is only slightly lower at eighth place. When it comes to why exactly our state ranks one of the highest, we can look to a few certain statistics as good examples. Here’s a list of the above-average statistics that North Dakota boasts when compared to the other 50 surveyed territories (with 25th place being the national average):

• North Dakota is ranked tenth when it comes to the percentage of adolescents who visited a dentist in the past year.
• North Dakota has the sixth lowest Dental Treatment Costs in the United States and District of Columbia.
• North Dakota has the third-lowest percentage of adults who experienced oral pain in the past year, tied with Illinois and the District of Columbia.
• North Dakota has the lowest percentage of adults with low life satisfaction due to their oral condition.
• ND is ranked 22nd in terms of overall sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.
• North Dakota is ranked 25th when it comes to the percentage of adults who visited a dentist in the past year.

In order to view the full study with results from each state, visit this page on Wallethub’s website.