Until recently, our knowledge of the prevalence of periodontal disease in the Unites States gave us an optimistic approach. Many Americans have very good oral health. They generally have a high level of access to dental care compared with their counterparts living in many developing countries in the world. Using the data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES III] and NHANES 1999-2004, Dye et al in 2007 evaluated the 15-year trend in oral health status in the United States and reported a great decline in the prevalence of periodontitis over that period. The recent epidemiological study on periodontal status derived from the 2009-2010 cycle of NHANES published from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)3 is the first nationally surveyed probability sample that utilized a full-mouth examination protocol as opposed to the random half mouth, "two sites per tooth" examination methodology that was used in prior NHANES studies.
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