QuickStats: Percentage of Adults* Aged 18--64 Years Who Have Had Problems Involving the Mouth,† by Race/Ethnicity§ and Type of Problem --- National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2008¶

* Includes dentate and edentulous adults.

† Based on response to the question, "During the past 6 months, have you had any of the following problems that lasted more than a day? Pain in your jaw joint? Sores in your mouth? Difficulty eating or chewing? Bad breath? Dry mouth?

§ Persons of Hispanic ethnicity might be of any race or combination of races. Non-Hispanic persons of a single race other than those shown or of multiple race are not shown separately because of small sample sizes.

¶ Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. adult population. Unknowns were not included in the denominators when calculating percentages.

** 95% confidence interval.

Among adults aged 18--64 years, non-Hispanic Asian adults experienced fewer problems with jaw pain, difficulty eating or chewing, bad breath, and dry mouth than Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black adults. Non-Hispanic blacks (2.4%) were less likely to have experienced mouth sores than Hispanics (4.8%), non-Hispanic whites (6.0%), and non-Hispanic Asians (6.3%).

Source: National Health Interview Survey, 2008 data. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.

Alternate Text: The figure above shows the percentage of adults aged 18–64 years who have had problems involving the mouth, by race/ethnicity and type of problem in the United States in 2008, according to the National Health Interview Survey. Among adults aged 18–64 years, non-Hispanic Asian adults experienced fewer problems with jaw pain, difficulty eating or chewing, bad breath, and dry mouth than Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black adults. Non-Hispanic blacks (2.4%) were less likely to have experienced mouth sores than Hispanics or Latinos (4.8%), non-Hispanic whites (6.0%), and non-Hispanic Asians (6.3%).