Forty-eight percent of dental patients say they haven’t seen a dentist in over a year, according to a survey published last month by Berxi, a venture within Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance that sells insurance.

The survey of 965 patients also found that:

• Nearly 50% of patients brush their teeth once a day or less
• Nearly 1 in 5 patients have not gone to a dentist in 3-plus years
• 28% of dental professional admitted they do not use mouthwash daily
• 27% of dental professionals said they brush their teeth once a day or less
• 52% of patients said they floss less than once a day, 60% said they use tongue scrapers less than once a day and 50% said they use mouthwash less than once a day

Seventy-seven million adults in the United States don’t have dental insurance, according to the State of Oral Health Equity in America survey published last week.

The survey of more than 5,000 adults across the U.S. found that 43% of adults identified cost as a reason they are likely to avoid future care in 2022 than in 2021 (38%). It also showed the challenges many populations face related to oral health, including: 59% of Black adults have lost one or more permanent teeth due to decay or gum disease compared to 45% of all adults, higher proportions of Black (34%) and Hispanic (25%) adults rate their oral health as fair or poor compared to white adults (23%).

The Berxi survey found that dental professionals spend more on dental care each month than patients, including on electric toothbrushes, water flossers, whitening mouthwash and teeth whitening strips.

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