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Percentage Who Had a Dental Visit in the Past 12 Months by County, Adults Aged 18+, New Mexico, 2016, 2018

Indicator Report Data View Options

Why Is This Important?

Oral health is essential to overall health. Good oral health improves a person's ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow, and make facial expressions to show feelings and emotions. (1, 2) The significant improvement in the oral health of Americans over the past 50 years is a public health success story. Most of the gains are a result of effective prevention and treatment efforts. One major success is community water fluoridation, which now benefits about 7 out of 10 Americans who get water through public water systems.

Percentage Who Had a Dental Visit in the Past 12 Months by County, Adults Aged 18+, New Mexico, 2016, 2018

  • **Percentages based on fewer than 50 completed surveys are not shown because they do not meet the DOH standard for data release.

Definition

Percentage of adults who last visited a dentist or a dental clinic in the last 12 months. Visits may have been for any reason, including visits to dental specialists, such as orthodontists. Survey Question: How long has it been since you last visited a dentist or a dental clinic for any reason? Include visits to dental specialists, such as orthodontists.

Data Sources

  • Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, together with New Mexico Department of Health, Injury and Behavioral Epidemiology Bureau.
    (https://www.nmhealth.org/about/erd/ibeb/brfss/)
  • U.S. data source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Prevalence and Trends Data.
    (https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/brfssprevalence)

How the Measure is Calculated

  • Numerator:

    Number of adults with a dental visit in the last 12 months.

  • Denominator:

    Total Number of adults in the BRFSS survey sample who answered this question.

Data Issues

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is an ongoing survey of adults about health-related behaviors, health conditions, and preventive services. Data are collected in all 50 states, D.C., and U.S. territories. The survey is conducted using scientific telephone survey methods for landline and cellular phones (with cellular since 2011). The landline phone portion of the survey excludes adults living in group quarters such as college dormitories, nursing homes, military barracks, and prisons. The cellular phone portion of the survey includes adult students living in college dormitories but excludes other group quarters. Beginning with 2011, the BRFSS updated its surveillance methods by adding in calls to cell phones and changing its weighting methods. These changes improve BRFSS' ability to take into account the increasing proportion of U.S. adults using only cellular telephones. Because of these changes, the data from years prior to 2011 are not directly comparable to data from 2011 and later. Please see the [[a href="/nmibis-view/docs/Query/BRFSS/BRFSS_fact_sheet_Aug2012.pdf BRFSS Method Change Factsheet]]. Responses have been weighted to reflect the New Mexico adult population by age, sex, ethnicity, geographic region, marital status, education level, home ownership and type of phone. The "missing" and "don't know" responses are not included when calculating a percentage.

Health Topic Pages Related to: Oral Health - Annual Dental Visits Among Adults

Indicator Data Last Updated On 04/15/2021, Published on 04/29/2021
Office of Oral Health, Population and Community Health Bureau, Public Health Division, New Mexico Department of Health, Health Systems Bureau, 1190 St. Francis Drive Room 1054-B, P. O. Box 26110, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502. Contact Rudy F. Blea, Telephone: 505.827.0837, Cell: 505 795-3260, FAX: 505.827.0021, Email: rudy.blea@state.nm.us. Website: www.health.state.nm.us/PHD/OOH/.