Gallup survey IDs states with most, least dental visits

Residents of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Hawaii are more likely to have visited a dentist in the past 12 months than those living in Mississippi, Louisiana, or West Virginia, according to a new survey conducted by Gallup.

More than 75% of Massachusetts residents said they visited a dentist in the past 12 months, followed by Connecticut (74.4%), Hawaii (73.3%), Minnesota (72.3%), Rhode Island (71.6%), and Wisconsin (71.1%). Rounding out the top 10 were New Jersey (71.0%), New Hampshire (70.6%), New York (69.2%), and Utah (69.1%).

At the other end of the spectrum, residents of Mississippi were least likely to have gone to the dentist in the past year (51.9%), followed by Louisiana (54.8%), West Virginia (55.4%), Texas (56.1%), Alabama and Kentucky (both 56.3%), Arkansas (56.6%), Oklahoma (56.8%), Tennessee (57.9%), and Missouri (58.6%).

These state-level data, collected as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, are from January through June 2011 and encompass more than 177,000 interviews conducted among national adults, ages 18 and older. Nationwide, an average of 65% of all American adults said they visited a dentist in the past 12 months during this time period, essentially unchanged from past years.

Health insurance appears to play a role in whether Americans go to the dentist. Gallup found that states where residents are the most likely to visit the dentist also have some of the lowest uninsured rates in the nation. The top 10 states for dental visits, for example, have an average health insurance rate of nearly 72%, Gallup noted. This compares with an average of 56% in the bottom 10 states.