UK performs well in recent global dental health survey
The UK performed well in a recent global dental health survey, boasting the highest proportion of respondents with no known dental issues.
An international oral health survey, which was carried out by Sunstar, revealed that 40% of Brits said they did not have any dental health problems. This was the highest figure across all 15 participating countries. Thailand ranked lowest in this category, with just 10% of those polled indicating they had good oral health. Only 5% of Thais were happy with their teeth. The Netherlands performed best, with the highest number of people satisfied with their smile.
The UK came second to Germany in the list of countries where people are most likely to visit a dentist regularly (outside of the pandemic), with 42% of participants agreeing that they keep up to date with appointments. Indonesians (45%) were most likely to forget to brush their teeth, with Brazil in second place (40%). Germans are least likely to forget (20%) with Britons ranking alongside Argentinians and Italians (33%).
Despite high rankings in the categories for attending dental appointments and the absence of dental health issues, awareness of the link between oral and general health is relatively poor in Britain. Only 12% of Brits knew that oral health could impact life expectancy, compared to 38% of Japanese participants.
The 2021 Global Healthy Thinking Report also found that Spaniards and Germans were most likely to want to give up bad habits, most notably, smoking, to improve dental health. In Indonesia, Italy and Brazil, people were more likely to want to give up drinking and eating foods that caused staining. Over a third of Chinese respondents wanted to cut down on eating sweets.
The survey also revealed the scale of the impact of the pandemic in different countries. In Argentina, 44% of people have missed dental appointments, compared to 12% of Japanese patients.
