Oral health: adults - trend data - prevalence of natural teeth

Preventable oral health disease was identified as a problem in the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme (SNAP), 1997, since which the dental health of adults in Scotland is improving. Trends in the oral health of adults can be assessed using the Adult Dental Health Surveys (ADHSs) and Scottish Health Survey.

There have been considerable improvements made in the dental health of adults since 1972 (Nuttall, 2001).

In Scotland in 2022, 6% of adults were found to be without natural teeth (edentulous) compared with 44% in 1972 (Chart 1 below). Although there has been a substantial improvement in adults' oral health in Scotland since 1972, Chart 2 below shows that people from the most deprived backgrounds are more likely to be edentulous.

Socio-economic status continues to influence oral health (measured by edentulousness). The trend for higher proportions of adults with total tooth loss to be found in more deprived socio-economic groups has been consistent over the last 30 years. However, the general time trend of a lower proportion of adults losing all their teeth is repeated across all of the socio-economic groups.

NB: Dental data is only included in the Scottish Health Survey biannually.

Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.