20% of people fear visiting the dentist more than they fear heights, giving dentists worldwide a serious complex about their profession. Considered the most devious profession right behind ‘politician’ and ‘defence lawyer’, dentists have a tough time convincing the world to cheer them on. Thankfully March 6th is Dentist Appreciation Day, and at Brush Box we want to share some reasons with you why dentists are so important.
- Only 9% of men, and 11% of women have oral health that can be classed as ‘excellent’. On average each adult in Britain has seven fillings, which means a lot of elbow grease from dentists to fix those not so pearly white.
- Thanks to the hard work from dental hygienists though, the percentage of Britons with tooth decay has decreased from 68% in 1973, to 31% in 2016.
- In 2017, dentists pulled 4 million wisdom teeth in the UK alone, needing 9000 litres of general anaesthetic to perform the operations.
- Alongside a few buckets of general anaesthetic, Britons use 9.3 billion gallons of toothpaste a year. That’s enough to completely fill 70 Olympic swimming pools. Talk about a refreshing swim.
- With all that toothpaste being used, its surprising to hear that almost 16.5 million people in Britain only brush their teeth once a day. The same amount of people also admits to not visiting their dentist in at least two years.
- As of March 2017, 22.2 million adult patients were seen by an NHS dentist, equating to 51.5% of the adult population, a rise of 15% in the last three years.
Every year dentists find themselves facing a mountain of tooth extractions, fillings, and people who insist that they floss every day. The least they deserve is a pat on the back for keeping our smiles so bright (and putting up with our obvious flossing deception).
To keep your gum nuggets looking their best and feeling fresh, grab yourself a Brush Box subscription. After all, you know what they say, a Brush Box brush a day keeps the dentist away…