Dentistry in the United States

Basically, the problem which this Commission was called upon to investigate is simple enough. It is the widespread incidence of dental and oral diseases in the United States. Americans have in the neighborhood of 700 million untreated cavities -- an average of nearly four each. By age fifty, nearly 50 percent of Americans have developed the periodontal (gum) ailments which among adults cause more tooth loss than is caused by decay; by age sixty-five, nearly 100 percent. Thousands of persons have other correctable oral disorders that go unnoticed and untreated. The problem becomes more than a statistical one: not that a vast amount of dental disease exists, but that the American society has the resources to combat this disease and is not using them to the fullest. - Introduction.