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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Reduce the proportion of adults with active or untreated tooth decay — OH‑03 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About this objective  |  Methodology  |  History  |  References

About this objective

Data

Data Source:  National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), CDC/NCHS

National baseline: 22.8 percent of adults aged 20 to 74 years had active or currently untreated tooth decay in 2013-16

National target: 17.3 percent

Numerator
Number of adults aged 20 to 74 years with coronal caries that have not been restored observed in at least 1 permanent tooth.
Denominator
Number of adults aged 20 to 74 years with at least 1 permanent tooth present and valid coronal caries codes for at least 1 permanent tooth.
National target-setting method
Minimal statistical significance
National target-setting method details
Minimal statistical significance, assuming the same standard error for the target as for the baseline.
National target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. The standard error was used to calculate a target based on minimal statistical significance, assuming the same standard error for the target as for the baseline. This method was used because it was a statistically significant improvement from the baseline.

Methodology

Methodology notes

Untreated tooth decay is defined as the presence of untreated caries. Dental caries is the disease that causes tooth decay and can lead to cavities in teeth. The measurement protocol described for Healthy People 2000 is still in use.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Modified, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 but underwent a change in measurement.
Changes between HP2020 and HP2030
This objective differs from the related Healthy People 2020 objectives in that objective 3.1 and 3.2 tracked persons aged 35 to 44 years and 65 to 74 years with untreated dental decay, while this objective tracks all persons aged 20 to 74 years with active or correctly untreated dental decay.

References

Additional resources about the objective