How Often Do People Visit the Dentist? A Global Perspective

The WHO has recognized the significant role of primary dental care in the prevention and treatment of oral disease (and therefore systemic health) to reduce the global burden of oral disease⁽³⁾. To this end, the WHO is targeting the paucity of primary dental care worldwide in its efforts to address the oral health problem⁽¹⁾.

In this article, we will look at the available data on how often people visit a dentist and discuss the conclusions we can make. Most notably, we will discuss how the deficiency in primary dental care is not limited to underdeveloped, third-world nations, and look at why this may be. Finally, we will suggest some potential ways to move toward improving how often people visit a dentist.

How Often Do People Visit the Dentist?

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) collects data annually on national averages of the number of dental visits per capita for its member countries, so we will look at these data⁽⁴⁾.

Figure. Annual average visits to the dentist per year by country among OECD member countries (2023 dataset).

Data is from the OECD Data Explorer⁽⁴⁾.

The figure shows the data for the number of dental visits per person per year in OECD member countries. The numbers reveal a stark difference between the first two countries (the Netherlands and Japan) and all others⁽⁴⁾.

A few observations can be made about dental care in the Netherlands. For example, preventive and curative dental care is completely covered by every basic healthcare plan for children up to age 18, and all Dutch adults are required by law to have private dental coverage, which likely explains the higher attendance for dental care⁽⁵⁾.

In Japan, dental care is covered by the universal healthcare system, with patients only having to pay 30% of the costs⁽⁶⁾. Japanese people historically suffered from poor oral health, but studies have confirmed marked improvements since the implementation of universal coverage and other public health programs aimed at improving oral health⁽⁶⁾.

Most dental care authorities recommend seeing a dentist at least twice a year, or more if there are dental health issues^(7)(8)(9). This should include dental cleaning visits every 3 to 6 months.

However, a recent scoping review of the available evidence challenged this widespread practice and concluded that the every 6 months recommendation was only supported by weak, low-quality evidence⁽⁹⁾. The study found that there was little to no effect on caries or periodontal disease from 6-month visits or even risk-based visits for adults. There was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions for the pediatric population.

The study authors suggested that “dental professionals and dental insurance providers make individually tailored, customised and risk-based recommendations for dental visits, rather than encouraging fixed or universal frequencies of dental visits”⁽⁹⁾.

Barriers to Regular Dental Visits

What are the barriers to regular dental visits? Studies suggest that there are barriers that are common to underdeveloped and wealthier countries alike.

Cost

The WHO cites out-of-pocket costs as a global barrier to access, and goes so far as to say that “paying for necessary oral health care is among the leading reasons for catastrophic health expenditures, resulting in an increased risk of impoverishment and economic hardship”⁽¹⁾.

Data published by the American Dental Association and Health Policy Institute show that even in the US, in 2023, 16.9% of American adults had not obtained needed dental care in the past 12 months due to cost⁽¹⁰⁾.

Access

Many countries lack dental health facilities and dental health professionals⁽¹⁾. Even countries with more facilities often have an uneven distribution of dental health professionals between socioeconomic demographics and geographical areas⁽¹¹⁾.

The shortage of dental health professionals is a global problem^(3)(12).

Model of Care

Dentistry is being pulled toward a model of care where demand for cosmetic dentistry and emerging technologies is tending to drive the industry⁽¹³⁾. Dental professionals are business-owners, and in the end, a lucrative cosmetic practice aimed at wealthy clients may be a better business decision than practicing preventive care and treating oral disease in underserved populations.

Lessons From the Data

• Most countries—not just underdeveloped ones—have much room for improvement in dental care access and affordability.
• More research is needed to delineate what recommendations should be made for the frequency of primary dental care visits for various populations (such as children, adults, those with diabetes, etc.).
• Countries should consider a more cost-effective preventive model of care versus a predominantly curative model of care (“drill, fill, and bill”) to improve dental visit compliance.
• Countries should consider a centralized dental care workforce planning program.

References

^{1. Oral health.World Health Organization website. Updated March 17, 2025. Accessed November 14, 2025. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/oral-health} 

 ^{2. D'AiutoF, Suvan J, Siripaiboonpong N, et al. The root of the matter: Linking oral health to chronic disease prevention. Int J Cardiol Congenit Heart Dis. 2025;19:100574. doi:10.1016/j.ijcchd.2025.100574} 

 ^{3. WorldHealth Organization. Global oral health status report: Towards universal health coverage for oral health by 2030. 2022. https://www.who.int/team/noncommunicable-diseases/global-status-report-on-oral-health-2022} 

 ^{4. Consultations. OECD Data Explorerwebsite. Updated 2024. Accessed November 15, 2025. https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?lc=en&pg=0&bp=true&snb=1&tm=dentist%20visits&df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_HEALTH_PROC%40DF_CONSULT&df[ag]=OECD.ELS.HD&df[vs]=1.1&dq=....OC2261.............&pd=2010%2C&to[TIME_PERIOD]=false&vw=tb&isAvailabilityDisabled=false} 

 ^{5. Wolf EH,ZiesemerKA, Van der Hijden EJE. Policy interventions to improve the accessibility and affordability of Dutch dental care. A scoping review of effective interventions. Heliyon. 2024;10(9):e28886. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28886} 

 ^{6. ZaitsuT, Saito T, Kawaguchi Y. The oral healthcare system in Japan. Healthcare. 2018;6(3):79. doi:10.3390/healthcare6030079} 

 ^{7. Home oral care. American DentalAssociation website. Updated 2025. Accessed November 14, 2025. https://www.ada.org/resources/ada-library/oral-health-topics/home-care} 

 ^{8. How often should you see a dentist?Australian Dental Association. N.d. Accessed November 14, 2025. https://www.adansw.com.au/wp-content/uploads/ADA021-How-often-should-you-see-a-dentist.pdf} 

 ^{9. AmarasenaN, Luzzi L, Brennan D. Effect of different frequencies of dental visits on dental caries and periodontal disease: A scoping review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(19):6858. doi:10.3390/ijerph20196858} 

 ^{10. Trends in dental care use, dental insurance coverage, and cost barriers. American DentalAssociation and Health Policy Institute [PowerPoint presentation]. 2024. https://www.ada.org/-/media/project/ada-organization/ada/ada-org/files/resources/research/hpi/national_trends_dental_use_benefits_barriers_2024.pdf} 

 ^{11. GlickM, Monteiro da Silva O, Seeberger GK, et al. FDI Vision 2020: Shaping the future of oral health. Int Dent J. 2012;62(6):278-291. doi:10.1111/idj.12009} 

 ^{12. Rahman S,BlossomJC, Kawachi I, et al. Dental clinic deserts in the US: Spatial accessibility analysis. JAMA. 2024;7(12):e2451625. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.51625} 

 ^{13. Hayashi M,HaapasaloM, Imazato S, et al. Dentistry in the 21st century: Challenges of a globalising world. Int Dent J. 2014;64(6):333-342. doi:10.1111/idj.12132}