For years, our friends across the pond in North America have thought of the British as having bad teeth, possibly some of the worst teeth in the world, which we guess is understandable considering how concerned our American friends are with having that perfect smile. But which countries really do have the worst dental hygiene in the world?
Based on a report from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (the OECD), the country shown to have to highest average number of decayed, missing or filled teeth in 12 year old children was Poland, with Hungary not far behind. Perhaps surprisingly, France, Italy, Australia and even the United States all proved to have worse teeth than Great Britain.
Although we might feel joyous that Great Britain doesn't have the worst teeth, and that the United States has worse teeth than us (according to the report), there are still a number of other countries with higher 'Moderate' levels of decayed, missing or filled teeth. For example, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar and Russia all have rather high levels of poor dental hygiene. Surprisingly, however, many other countries have better levels of dental hygiene than the US, including Egypt, Botswana and Nigeria which were shown to have 'Low levels' of poor dental hygiene.
One country in particular, the Philippines, stood out in a slightly later report from 2009 by showing that 97% of their six year olds suffered from dental caries. But it's not just the Philippines; for the whole of South East Asia, oral cancer was revealed to be the most common form of the disease amongst men in the region. This is a stark contrast against the rest of the world where oral cancer is only the eighth most common form of cancer.
The worst culprits in the world to suffer from edentulism (complete toothlessness) is again not the UK, but in fact countries like Canada, Bulgaria and Turkey where over 50% of those over 65 suffer from it. Again, Nigeria comes out on top, with less than 10% suffering from edentulism.
Based on a report from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (the OECD), the country shown to have to highest average number of decayed, missing or filled teeth in 12 year old children was Poland, with Hungary not far behind. Perhaps surprisingly, France, Italy, Australia and even the United States all proved to have worse teeth than Great Britain.
Although we might feel joyous that Great Britain doesn't have the worst teeth, and that the United States has worse teeth than us (according to the report), there are still a number of other countries with higher 'Moderate' levels of decayed, missing or filled teeth. For example, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar and Russia all have rather high levels of poor dental hygiene. Surprisingly, however, many other countries have better levels of dental hygiene than the US, including Egypt, Botswana and Nigeria which were shown to have 'Low levels' of poor dental hygiene.
One country in particular, the Philippines, stood out in a slightly later report from 2009 by showing that 97% of their six year olds suffered from dental caries. But it's not just the Philippines; for the whole of South East Asia, oral cancer was revealed to be the most common form of the disease amongst men in the region. This is a stark contrast against the rest of the world where oral cancer is only the eighth most common form of cancer.
The worst culprits in the world to suffer from edentulism (complete toothlessness) is again not the UK, but in fact countries like Canada, Bulgaria and Turkey where over 50% of those over 65 suffer from it. Again, Nigeria comes out on top, with less than 10% suffering from edentulism.
