Florida recently placed as one of the worst states in the country for dental health on a national rankings list. But on another rankings list that used different metrics to find the states with the best overall health and Florida also somehow placed in the top 15 healthiest.
An earlier study supports the rankings list that places Florida low in dental health. “Florida had the highest rate of non-traumatic dental emergency room visits for children aged 14 and below in 2020 among the 13 states they tracked, 26.7 per 10,000 people,” the USA TODAY Network-Florida reported from the findings of a 2023 study by CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.
Here’s where Florida ranked on WalletHub’s list of the worst states for dental health and Forbes Advisor’s list of the healthiest states and why.
Which state has the best dental health?
WalletHub compared all 50 states’ dental habits and overall oral health by using metrics like the share of adults who visited a dentist in the last year, dental treatment costs, dentists per capita and Medicaid dental benefits for nonelderly adults in each state.
According to WalletHub’s study, Florida ranks as the 10th worst state for dental health in the country, right behind Alabama and Kentucky. Illinois ranked as the best state for dental health.
WalletHub’s list of the 10 worst states for dental health
- Arkansas
- Mississippi
- West Virginia
- Louisiana
- Montana
- Texas
- Alaska
- Alabama
- Kentucky
- Florida
WalletHub’s list of the top 10 best states for dental health
- Illinois
- Wisconsin
- Idaho
- Minnesota
- Michigan
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- North Dakota
- Massachusetts
- Ohio
Where does Florida rank in dental care?
Here’s how Florida scored on some of WalletHub’s key metrics for dental health by state.
• 44th – Percentage of adolescents who visited a dentist in the past year
• 42nd – Percentage of adults who visited a dentist in the past year
• 29th – Dental treatment costs
• 22nd – Dentists per capita
• 25th – Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption
• 49th – Percentage of adults with poor or fair oral condition
• 31st – Percentage of adults who experienced oral pain in the past year
• 36th – Percentage of adults with “low life satisfaction” due to their oral condition
Which U.S. state has the best healthcare?
Forbes Advisor’s study used 21 metrics to measure the healthiest state overall. All metrics fell within one of these three categories: disease risk factors and prevalence, substance abuse and lifestyle habits and health outlook.
The measurements Forbes used included mortality rates per 100,000 state residents for diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, kidney disease, stroke, high blood pressure and more.
Forbes also measured things like alcohol-induced deaths per 100,000 residents, life expectancy, percentage of adults who are current smokers and the number of adults who reported illicit drug or opioid use in the past month in each state.
If you combine Forbes’ and WalletHub’s results, Floridians take better care of their overall health than they do their teeth.
Florida ranked as the 12th healthiest state in the country on Forbes’ list. Hawaii ranked as the healthiest state overall.
Forbes Advisor’s list of the top 15 healthiest states in the U.S.
- Hawaii
- Utah
- Connecticut
- Minnesota
- Massachusetts
- Colorado
- New Jersey
- New Hampshire
- Washington
- New York
- Idaho
- Florida
- California
- Rhode Island
- Vermont