National Oral Health Month, celebrated annually during the month of June, is replete with reminders of the importance of oral health to overall health and wellness. That’s why it seems like a fitting time to tell you about Delta Dental’s recently released 2026 State of America’s Oral Health and Wellness Report.
Delta Dental Plans Association commissions a third-party market research firm to survey 1,000 nationally representative U.S. adults ages 18+ and 1,000 parents of children ages 12 and under, and those responses form the basis of the report. This is the sixth such report.
The following findings show that the understanding of oral health’s role in supporting physical health, mental well-being and quality of life is growing.
In 2026, 91% of adults agreed that oral health is a key component of overall health.
Ninety percent of adults said preventive dental exams are just as important as annual physical—up from 87% in 2025. While an earlier report (2022) revealed that a significant number of respondents were unable to recognize medical conditions linked to poor oral health, the 2026 report shows that adults are increasingly understanding the connections between oral health and chronic illness: kidney disease 28% (up 6% from 2025), diabetes 32% (up 5% from 2025) and dementia 25% (up 5% from 2025).
While Generation Z had a slightly weaker understanding of the connection between oral and overall health in 2023, the 2026 report shows that Gen Z adults (94%) now say oral health is very or extremely important to their overall health, up from 89% in 2025. A strong majority links oral health to mental health.
Parents are reporting notable improvements in their children’s oral health. Seventy-eight percent rated their child’s oral health as “good” or “excellent,” the highest level in five years. This upward trend reflects increased attention to healthy habits at home. Among children who visited the dentist in 2025, preventive visits remained high at 90%, though slightly down from 94% in 2024.
Results showed that parents understand the benefits of early dental care, but only 27% were aware of the recommended timing of their child’s first visit—within six months of the first tooth appearing or by age one—showing opportunities for outreach and education.
Businesses and nonprofits with oral health-related missions can be encouraged by the survey results on which this report was based. But there are still plenty of challenges for all of us, because, as we believe, everyone deserves a healthy smile!
