[quote=EconProf]TG: I follow economic and demographic indicators very closely, and you’ve just exposed a terrific one: Tooth Count by state.
From the rankings, it looks like a very reliable indicator of health and socioeconomic well-being. Except I’m a little surprised CA is ranked so high–I would have guessed we would fall somewhere in the middle.[/quote]
Econ, I was tired and didn’t research it very hard but in the past I’ve seen studies on the atc (average tooth count) by age bracket per state and dentists per 1000 residents. Cali was always near the top but one state that wasn’t on the list I posted that is always at the top is Hawaii, which is suprising, since that is where a lot of sugar is produced. Another suprising thing is that the southeastern states that ranked high in the “toothless by 65” study also had tooth counts in the single digits at something like 45 years of age. Demographics may be skewed because the top states were also the ones who had been flouridizing their water for decades. My post was meant more of a joke but it is an interesting demographic angle.
