A January 2025 oral health survey conducted and published by personal finance website WalletHub has ranked Texas as one of the states (the District of Columbia was included in the survey) with the worst oral health in the country.
Worse than California and New York
Ranked at 48, Texas is well behind traditional rivals California and New York, which placed 37 and 30, respectively. Texas was grouped with Louisiana, West Virginia, Mississippi and Arkansas at the bottom.
Top states
The states found by the survey to have the best oral health were Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Connecticut.
Methodology
The Wallethub panel compared two key dimensions, Dental Habits & Health and Oral Health, using 25 relevant, weighted metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for dental health.
Dental Habits & Care
- Share of Adolescents Who Visited a Dentist in the Past Year
- Share of Adults Who Visited a Dentist in the Past Year
- Dental Treatment Costs
- Reduced Dentist Visits Due to Costs
- Dentists per Capita
- Dental Professionals per Capita
- Free or Low-Cost Dental Clinics per Capita
- Share of Population Living in Dental HPSAs (Health Professional Shortage Areas)
- Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption Among Adolescents
- Share of Adult Smokers
- Share of People Who Receive Fluoridated Water Through Public Water Systems
- Presence of State Oral Health Plan
- Presence of School-Based Dental Sealant Programs
- Medicaid Dental Benefits for Nonelderly Adults
- Presence of State Dental Periodicity Schedule
- Status of Older Adult Basic Screening Survey
- Oral Health Knowledge Index
Oral Health
- Poor or Fair Oral Condition
- Share of Elderly Population with No Natural Teeth
- Pain Due to Oral Condition
- Dry Mouth Due to Oral Condition
- Sleeping Problems Due to Oral Condition
- Reduced Life Satisfaction Due to Oral Condition
- Reduced Social Participation Due to Oral Condition
- Work Absence Due to Oral Condition
For full information on the methodology and members of their expert panel, please visit the Wallethub website.
Specific survey results
While this survey did not specifically deal with Medicaid-eligible children, one of the results placed Texas only above Florida in the lowest % of Adolescents Who Visited a Dentist in the Past Year. This is even though the survey found Texas to have some of the lowest treatment costs in the nation.
Another sad result is that Texas ranked the highest in the country for the % of Adults with Low Life Satisfaction Due to Oral Condition.
Action needed not just for Medicaid
Texas’ poor ranking in dental health is a wake-up call for policymakers, dental professionals, and residents alike. With low Medicaid reimbursement rates, limited access to care, and high levels of untreated dental issues, the state faces significant challenges in improving oral health outcomes.
Without meaningful action, Texas risks falling further behind.
We can’t fall much farther behind than 48th. Too great of a state to be doing this poorly for our kids. Sure hope our policy makers will take these results seriously and enact much needed increases in reimbursements so providers can serve this patient population.
Providers need to be compensated accordingly to provide that standard of care. For example, I can’t even afford a new pano right now as my old unit is breaking. That’s how bad it is getting.