Children's oral health problems

Past year oral health problems (toothaches, bleeding gums, decayed teeth or cavities) by:

 

We analyzed the prevalence of children’s oral health problems by sex, age group, race and ethnicity and special healthcare needs of the child. We also looked at household poverty, primary language spoken, parent and guardian education, health insurance and household poverty as possible factors associated with children’s oral health problems. Below we report on factors in Minnesota that are statistically significant.

Children's past year oral health problems, 2016-2019 to 2019-2020

Click data points for more information OR Roll over bars for more information
 

Source: National Survey of Children's Health.

 

Children (1 to 17 years) with at least one oral health problem in the past year

2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

2019-2020

United States

Percent

13.8%

14.2%

14.0%

14.3%

 

95% Confidence Interval

13.1 to 14.5

13.4 to 14.9

13.4 to 14.7

13.7 to 15.0

 

Number (sample size)

7,470

5,830

7,023

8,617

 

Estimated population

9,571,292

9,839,266

9,754,059

9,920,894

Minnesota

Percent

10.4%

10.0%

10.0%

11.8%

 

95% Confidence Interval

8.0 to 13.3

7.5 to 13.2

7.7 to 12.9

9.4 to 14.8

 

Number (sample size)

151

84

93

116

 

Estimated population

125,091

122,165

123,840

145,664

 

Data is based on a survey of parent or guardian reported measures of non-institutionalized children (i.e., children not in jail, prison, or hospital setting). United States total sample size: (2016-2017) = 364,150, (2017-2018) = 346,726, (2018-2019) = 139,500, and (2019-2020) = 162,000. Minnesota total sample size: (2016-2017) = 5,871, (2017-2018) = 4,144, (2018-2019) = 3,696, and (2019-2020) = 4,500. *Unstable rate: use caution when interpreting rates based on a sample size less than 50 or an estimate with a 95% confidence interval width exceeding 20 percentage points or 1.2 times the estimate. ^Suppression rate: when the denominator is less than 30, numbers are suppressed. Percentages are weighted to population characteristics. See About the National Survey of Children’s Health data for more information.

 

In 2019-2020, 14% of U.S. children and 12% of Minnesota children experienced oral health problems, such as toothaches, bleeding gums, decayed teeth, or cavities. 

 

There was no statistically significant change in reported children’s oral health problems from 2016-2017 to 2019-2020.