Leading health experts stress that oral health is integral to general health and well-being. (1) Poor oral health and untreated oral conditions not only can result in irreversible dental decay, but also are associated with many diseases and conditions that affect women such as diabetes, heart and lung diseases, stroke and low birth-weight, premature births.
What percentage of women have had a dental visit within the past year?
The Report Card benchmark is the Healthy People 2010 goal of increasing the percentage of children and adults using the oral health care system each year to 56 percent (when applied to women) [Healthy People 2010 Objective 21-10].
Data Source: Annual Dental Visits (%), 2004
EXPLANATION:
This measure includes women age 18 and older in the non-institutionalized civilian population who reported visiting a dentist or dental clinic within the past year for any reason.
SOURCE:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Office on Women’s Health Quick Health Data Online, available at http://www.womenshealth.gov/quickhealthdata. The data accessed from the system are from the 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS). The 2004 data from Hawaii are not available as part of the aggregate dataset from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS), 2005, available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/index.asp. The overall state number for Hawaii is from 2004 BRFSS data on the state’s website. Hawaii State Department of Health, Health Statistics, 2004 State of Hawaii Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, available at http://www.hawaii.gov/health/statistics/brfss/brfss2004/brfss04.html. The overall U.S. and state data as well as data for race/ethnicity are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population. The national number is the median of 49 states and the District of Columbia.