The Root of the Problem

America's Great Dental Divide

Data released this month by the Gallup Organization shows a stark new axis of socioeconomic cleavage: those who regularly go to the dentist, and those who do not.

Access to dental care stands as a remarkably stark divide in American life, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. More than four in ten Americans pay their dental bills themselves, compared to just 10 percent of doctor’s visits, and the past decade or so has seen a vicious “oral cost spiral,” as June Thomas points out, with the costs of dental care far outpacing both the rate of inflation and overall medical cost increases. With incomes falling, unemployment rising, and poverty increasing, dental care has become a “luxury” that fewer and fewer Americans can afford.