Oral Health Statistics 2026: Verified Figures with Primary Sources
Oral health statistics 2026. Every number checked at the source.
30 statistics on caries, gum disease, sensitive teeth, the oral care market, hydroxyapatite and fluoride research, xylitol, and what people actually do with their toothbrushes. Each figure was verified against the linked primary source before it went on this page. No secondhand numbers, no rounded-up folklore.
Statistics pages usually copy each other until nobody remembers where a number came from. This one goes the other way: every statistic below links to the exact page where the figure appears, WHO fact sheets, Cochrane reviews, national oral health studies, journal papers, and the odd market report. If we could not confirm a number at its source, it did not make the page.
Last reviewed: July 27, 2026 · Download this dataset as CSV
All 30 statistics
Caries and periodontal disease burden, dentin hypersensitivity, DACH national figures, oral care and whitening market size, hydroxyapatite and fluoride research, xylitol, sugar intake, and brushing and dental-anxiety behavior. Every figure links to its primary source.
| # | Statistic | Figure | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oral diseases affect nearly 3.7 billion people worldwide. | 3.7 billion | WHO oral health fact sheet | 2023 |
| 2 | Untreated dental caries in permanent teeth is the single most common health condition on the planet. | No. 1 | WHO oral health fact sheet | 2023 |
| 3 | Untreated dental caries affects an estimated 2.5 billion people. | 2.5 billion | WHO Global Oral Health Status Report | 2022 |
| 4 | Severe periodontal disease is estimated at more than 1 billion cases worldwide. | 1 billion+ | WHO oral health fact sheet | 2023 |
| 5 | Complete tooth loss affects almost 7% of people aged 20 or older, rising to about 23% at age 60 and above. | 7% / 23% | WHO oral health fact sheet | 2023 |
| 6 | The best-estimate prevalence of dentin hypersensitivity is 11.5% of people. | 11.5% | Favaro Zeola et al., Journal of Dentistry (via PubMed) | 2019 |
| 7 | Across individual studies, reported sensitivity prevalence averages 33.5% and ranges from 1.3% to 92.1%. | 1.3% to 92.1% | Favaro Zeola et al., Journal of Dentistry (via PubMed) | 2019 |
| 8 | In Germany, 77.6% of 12-year-olds are caries-free, with an average caries experience of 0.5 teeth. | 77.6% | DMS 6, via zm-online (German dental association journal) | 2025 |
| 9 | Germany cut the caries burden in children by 90% since group and individual prophylaxis programs began in the late 1990s. | -90% | DMS 6, via KZV Baden-Wuerttemberg | 2025 |
| 10 | Around 14 million people in Germany have severe periodontitis requiring treatment. | 14 million | DMS 6, via KZV Baden-Wuerttemberg | 2025 |
| 11 | 95.1% of German adults aged 35 to 44 show some stage of periodontitis, most of it early stage. | 95.1% | DMS 6, via zm-online | 2025 |
| 12 | Only about 5% of German seniors aged 65 to 74 are completely toothless, an 80% reduction versus earlier decades. | ~5% | DMS 6, via KZV Baden-Wuerttemberg | 2025 |
| 13 | In Austria, 58% of 6-to-7-year-olds have caries-free primary teeth, short of the WHO 80% goal. | 58% | Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs / Gesundheit Oesterreich (PDF) | 2024 |
| 14 | 29% of young Austrian children need acute dental treatment for untreated caries lesions. | 29% | Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs / Gesundheit Oesterreich (PDF) | 2024 |
| 15 | In the Canton of Zurich, caries in 12-year-olds fell by about 90%, with values low and stable since 1996. | -90% | Obsan, Orale Gesundheit in der Schweiz (PDF) | 2010 |
| 16 | The global oral care market is projected to reach 49.5 billion US dollars by 2028. | $49.5 billion | Grand View Research, via PR Newswire | 2021 |
| 17 | The global teeth whitening market is estimated at 8.01 billion US dollars in 2026, forecast to reach 9.61 billion by 2031. | $8.0 billion | Mordor Intelligence teeth whitening report | 2026 |
| 18 | Hydroxyapatite oral care traces to a 1972 NASA patent for repairing teeth by growing hydroxyapatite crystals. | 1972 | NASA Spinoff | 2022 |
| 19 | The first hydroxyapatite remineralizing toothpaste launched in Japan in 1980; Japan approved hydroxyapatite as an active anti-caries ingredient in 1993. | 1980 / 1993 | Sangi Co. company history | 1993 |
| 20 | PubMed indexes 310 results for the search term hydroxyapatite toothpaste. | 310 | PubMed, National Library of Medicine | 2026 |
| 21 | PubMed indexes 62 results for the narrower term nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste. | 62 | PubMed, National Library of Medicine | 2026 |
| 22 | In an 18-month randomized trial, 89.29% of the hydroxyapatite toothpaste group developed no new caries surfaces versus 87.36% with fluoride toothpaste, meeting the non-inferiority threshold. | 89.3% vs 87.4% | Frontiers in Public Health | 2023 |
| 23 | The Cochrane review of fluoride toothpastes at different concentrations includes 96 studies, 85 of them covering 48,804 randomized child participants. | 96 studies | Cochrane review (Walsh et al.) | 2019 |
| 24 | Topical fluoride (toothpaste, rinse, gel, or varnish) reduces decayed, missing, and filled tooth surfaces in children by a pooled 26%. | -26% | Cochrane review (Marinho et al.) | 2003 |
| 25 | The EU authorises a health claim that chewing gum sweetened with 100% xylitol has been shown to reduce dental plaque, a risk factor for caries in children. | 100% xylitol | EUR-Lex, Regulation (EC) No 1024/2009 | 2009 |
| 26 | Cochrane found fluoride toothpaste with 10% xylitol may reduce caries by 13% compared with fluoride-only toothpaste. | -13% | Cochrane xylitol review (Riley et al.), via PMC | 2015 |
| 27 | WHO recommends keeping free sugars below 10% of total energy intake, and ideally below 5%, to reduce caries risk. | <10% | WHO sugars and dental caries fact sheet | 2025 |
| 28 | 56% of Swiss adults exceed the WHO 10% free-sugar limit, with mean intake at 11% of total energy. | 56% | Nutrients, menuCH survey (via PMC) | 2019 |
| 29 | 79% of adults report brushing their teeth at least twice a day. | 79% | Delta Dental Oral Health and Well-Being survey | 2023 |
| 30 | The global prevalence of dental fear and anxiety in adults is 15.3%, with 3.3% severe. | 15.3% | Silveira et al., Journal of Dentistry (via SAHMRI) | 2021 |
Table: Minvelle, from the sources listed above. Reuse freely with a link to this page.
Free to use, quote, and republish with attribution (CC BY 4.0). For individual figures, cite the primary source we link; for the collection, use:
Minvelle (2026). Oral health statistics 2026. minvelle.com/pages/oral-health-statistics. Last updated July 3, 2026.
Example anchor text that works in an article:
- "a source-verified roundup of oral health statistics"
- "oral diseases affect nearly 3.7 billion people"
- "oral health statistics compiled by Minvelle"
Notes on method
Each statistic was checked by opening the linked source and confirming the number appears there, on July 3, 2026. Primary sources were preferred everywhere: WHO publications, Cochrane reviews, EUR-Lex, national oral health studies (Germany's DMS 6, Austria's Laender-Zahnstatuserhebung, Switzerland's Obsan), and journal papers via PubMed and PMC. Two market-size figures come from commercial research publishers because no public-body equivalent exists; treat those as industry estimates. PubMed result counts change as new papers index, so both counts carry their check date. Survey figures on brushing are self-reported. This page is informational, not medical advice.
Go deeper
Companion dataset: the pH of 50 popular drinks, an enamel damage reference. Related reading on the blog: nano-hydroxyapatite vs CPP-ACP vs fluoride · sugar substitutes ranked for teeth · strategies for dental anxiety
This page is maintained by Minvelle, an Austrian oral care brand that makes a sugar-free nano-hydroxyapatite chewing gum. We keep the statistics current because writers keep needing them. Spotted a number that has been superseded? Tell us and we will update it.