Table 1

Percentage of Children Ages Two to 17 with Unmet Dental Needs

and Percentage Who Have Not Seen a Dentist in the Past Year, 1997-2004¹

Percent with unmet dental need²

Percent who have not seen a dentist in past year³

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

1997

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Total

6.1

6.7

5.9

5.6

6.6

27.3

27.4

25.9

26.7

25.7

25.0

23.4

Gender

Male

5.7

5.8

5.3

5.4

7.4

27.7

26.4

27.3

26.0

25.8

24.6

Female

6.5

7.7

6.5

5.9

5.8

27.0

27.2

25.4

26.1

25.0

23.9

22.1

Age

2-4 years

3.1

3.9

2.5

2.2

3.3

55.8

57.7

59.4

53.5

52.9

5-17 years

6.8

7.3

6.6

6.4

7.4

19.2

19.7

17.8

18.3

16.6

5-11 years

6.1

6.7

6.4

5.7

6.3

18.8

19.3

17.1

18.5

15.9

12-17 years

7.6

8.1

7.0

7.3

8.5

19.7

20.2

19.1

18.6

17.4

Race/ethnicity⁴

White, non-Hispanic "only"

5.6

6.3

5.5

4.9

6.9

23.0

21.3

22.3

20.8

22.5

Black, non-Hispanic "only"

6.8

6.1

5.9

6.6

5.5

32.3

30.0

31.9

31.7

29.4

27.1

Hispanic

8.3

8.8

7.5

7.2

9.7

40.7

39.6

39.5

36.8

34.8

34.2

Mexican or Mexican American

9.2

9.3

8.2

9.6

42.3

43.5

40.0

37.3

35.7

Family income⁵

Less than $20,000

9.0

11.6

9.9

9.4

10.2

37.3

38.4

34.5

33.0

33.8

$20,000 or more

5.4

5.8

5.1

6.0

23.1

24.2

23.5

22.9

21.3

$20,000-$34,999

10.7

11.2

10.2

9.4

10.7

34.1

36.1

33.6

32.2

32.0

$35,000-$54,999

7.6

9.6

7.8

9.4

8.3

29.2

29.3

29.6

29.5

25.1

$55,000-$74,999

3.5

4.2

3.0

4.5

5.5

19.6

22.5

20.4

22.6

20.2

$75,000 or more

1.9

2.1

2.5

1.3

2.3

13.7

15.0

15.1

13.7

14.1

Poverty status⁶

Poor

9.4

12.8

9.8

10.5

10.4

38.0

42.2

37.5

39.8

36.6

35.6

35.1

Near Poor

11.6

11.7

10.7

10.0

10.6

38.4

34.8

36.8

33.0

33.9

31.4

Not Poor

4.0

4.5

4.0

4.3

20.3

20.1

19.9

20.6

20.2

19.0

17.8

Health insurance coverage⁷

Private

3.9

4.5

3.9

3.2

4.2

20.2

21.0

20.3

20.2

17.6

Medicaid/other public

6.3

7.7

7.5

6.8

7.9

31.4

33.8

30.5

27.4

28.6

Other

5.3

3.9*

2.6*

4.1*

5.1*

24.5

24.1*

24.4*

17.2*

21.6*

Uninsured

18.5

19.6

15.2

18.6

20.9

49.3

50.6

49.4

49.6

49.7

* Has relative standard error greater than 30% and should be used with caution.

¹ Data for 2004 are provisional and may be revised

² Dental need is based on the question, "During the past 12 months, was there any time when [child's name] needed any of the following but didn't get it because you couldn't afford it: Dental care (including check-ups)?

³ Time since last dental contact is based on the question, "About how long has it been since [child's name] last saw or talked to a dentist? Include all types of dentists, such as orthodontists, oral surgeons, and all other dental specialists, as well as dental hygienists."

⁴ Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin may be of any race or combination of races. In accordance with the new OMB race standards, white non-Hispanic only and black non-Hispanic only are limited to people who indicated only one race group.

⁵ The categories "Less than $20,000" and "$20,000 or more" include both persons reporting dollar amounts and persons reporting only that their incomes were within one of these categories. The indented categories include only those persons who reported dollar amounts.

⁶ Poverty status is based on family income and family size using the Census Bureau's poverty thresholds for the previous calendar year. "Poor" persons are defined as below the poverty threshold. "Near poor" persons have incomes of 100% to less than 200% of the poverty threshold. "Not poor" persons have incomes that are 200% of the poverty threshold or greater.

⁷ Classification of health insurance coverage is based on a hierarchy of mutually exclusive categories. Persons with more than one type of health insurance were assigned to the first appropriate category in the hierarchy. The category "Uninsured" includes persons who had no coverage as well as those who had only Indian Health Service coverage or had only a private plan that paid for one type of service such as accidents or dental care.

Source: Data from 1997 and 1999: National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States 2002 with Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. Hyattsville, Maryland: 2002: Table 80. See http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm. Data for 2000 from: Blackwell DL, Vickerie JL, Wondimu EA. Summary health statistics for U.S. children: National Health Interview Survey, 2000. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 10(213). 2003. Table 18. Available online at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_213.pdf. Data for 2001 from: Bloom, B, Cohen, RA, Vickerie, JL, & Wondimu, EA. Summary health statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2001. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital and Health Statistics, 10(216). 2003. Available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_216.pdf;

Data for 2002 from: Dey AN, Schiller JS, Tai DA. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2002. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 10(221). 2004. Available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_221.pdf; Data for 2003: Dey, AN, Bloom B. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2003. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Statistics 10(223). 2005. Available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_223.pdf. Data for 2004: National Center for Health Statistics. "Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2004." Vital Health Statistics 10(227). 2005. Available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_227.pdf