Oral hygiene is a concern of many Portuguese, but not everyone has the money to go to the dentist. A study of the Order of Dental Doctors (OMD) revealed that a large percentage of Portuguese never goes to the dentist or, if going, it is not once a year. Although the lack of money is one of the factors pointed out for these results, who suffers are the teeth of hundreds of Portuguese.
A study by the Order of Dentists confirmed that about one million Portuguese never goes to the dentist or, if he goes, nor is it once a year. “Of the approximately one million people who never go or go to the dentist, 300,000 (30%) that point to the lack of money as justification not to make any dental medical consultation,” says the same study.
It should also be noted that 27.4% of the Portuguese has never made an appointment for “check-up” at the dentist, a percentage that increased significantly compared to the year 2023.
More than half of the Portuguese have at least one tooth in a missing
These numbers also show why there are increasingly Portuguese without complete dentition. If, in 2023, more than half of the national population had at least one missing tooth (58.9%), in 2024, the percentage increased even more (65.7%). It can then be said that two thirds of the Portuguese population does not have the complete dentition.
In addition, of the two thirds of the population with at least one missing tooth, 57.1% has nothing to replace, such as advances a.
The data indicate that it is women who have the most lack of teeth, with only 31.7% with complete dentition, against 36.8% in men. It is also women who lead, with regard to the number of Portuguese with six or more missing teeth, as this is the reference number that affects the quality of chewing and oral health.
Miguel Pavão says that the results of the study “embarrass the country”
In an analysis of the results of this study, the presidential order president, Miguel Pavão, stresses that the numbers presented “embarrass the country and reflect the absence of investment in oral health”. “It is focused to invest, have a budget for oral health that allows us to perform and not just plan,” he says.
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