THE DECAYED, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index has been used since the 1930s.
Today it is the most common way all over the world to measure the severity of tooth decay.
The DMFT index gives the sum of an individual’s decayed, missing and filled permanent teeth or surfaces. Measuring dental caries or tooth decay in permanent teeth means examining 32 teeth (all permanent teeth including wisdom teeth).
To give you an idea, an individual with two decayed, three filled and one missing tooth has a DMFT of 6.
According to the World Health Organization, the DMFT index measures the dental caries or tooth decay situation.
It is essential to know the DFMT score because oral diseases including tooth cavity limit an individual’s capacity to bite, chew, smile and speak, and affect psychosocial wellbeing.
The Global Burden of Disease Study estimates that oral diseases affected at least 3.58 billion people worldwide in 2016, ranking first for dental caries of permanent teeth (2.4 billion people) and 17th for dental caries of deciduous teeth (486 million children).
Based on the DFMT index, 10 countries take top spot with the world’s pearliest teeth.
No. 1 is Denmark, with an impressive score of 0.4. The score means that the average Dane has less than half a tooth that needs the attention of dentists.
At second spot is Germany with a score of just 0.5 on the DMFT index. It means that, with Germanic precision, they are very careful about their oral health.
Finland is third with a DMFT score of 0.7. It shows that oral health care is widely accessible to its citizens.
No. 4 is Sweden, with a DMFT score of 0.8. Swedes are among the Nordic residents with the pearliest, whitest teeth.
The United Kingdom is No. 5. The score debunks the notion, common in the European continent, that Brits have bad teeth.
Switzerland takes the sixth spot, never mind all that chocolate. Its DMFT score of 0.9 reflects excellent health care because less than one tooth of every citizen needs dental attention.
From Europe we go to North America, to Canada in seventh place with a score of 1. It beats its southern neighbor, the United States.
Even south of the border, Mexico beats the gringos at No. 8 with a DMFT score of 1.1. Again it debunks the notion, popular in Western cowboy movies, that Mexicans have bad teeth.
Finally, we have their neighbor the United States at No. 9. Its DMFT score of 1.2 is fitting for the world’s richest nation.
Vive Le France is at 10th place, with a DMFT score of 1.2. The score is the same as the United States but it plays second fiddle to the country across the Atlantic because of a low health care budget.
While the list is based on each country’s DMFT scores, other factors were considered such as the World Health Organization data, Country Oral Health Profiles and the World Oral Health report of 2003./PN
