Almost everyone has had a tooth filled or extracted due to a cavity. Tooth decay is a common condition, not only among children but also among adults. This oral condition is so prevalent that it is considered as the nation's top chronic disease.
Further, tooth decay is even more prevalent than asthma. Cavity prevalence is surprising considering that tooth decay is preventable. If you look at the numbers, the pervasiveness of dental cavities becomes even more startling.
In a study (2011-2012) done by the National Institute for Health, together with the Center for Disease and Prevention reports that 91% of adults with age ranging from 20 to 64 have dental cavities. Further, 5% of adults with the same age range have no remaining teeth. The study also predicts that when these adults reach 65 years of age, the rate would have increased to 96%. A 2016 National Center for Health Statistics survey shows that 18.6 percent of children aged 5 to 19 and 31.6 percent of adults aged 20 to 64 have untreated dental cavities.
The high percentage of children and adults with cavities should be a cause for concern. Research has shown that there is a link between oral health and general health, like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, dementia, and respiratory illnesses. Several theories have been advanced by experts in dental health which link cavities to general health. One such link is the mouth-body connection which happens to be an old theory you can trace back to the time of Hippocrates.
At this point, you may wonder how tooth decay which is a preventable disease could rise to such a high level of prevalence. You may also wonder about the conditions which give rise to cavity development. The crucial question, though, is how to reverse cavities the natural way to prevent the dental problem from developing into a serious oral health condition.