Have Minnesotans Kept More Of Their Teeth Than Other States?

I've been fortunate to have maintained relatively good dental health throughout my life. I had braces as a teenager, and have only had one cavity as an adult (so far), but all of my non-wisdom adult teeth remain in my face. I'd say that's pretty good.

My fellow Minnesotans: how do the rest of y'all stack up to my high (hello!) dental standards?

The Toothy

"And what's this?" "Um, YOU'RE the dentist, you tell ME!" (Photo by Quang Tri NGUYEN on Unsplash)

Some dental ~~nerds~~ experts ranked states using several criteria:

access to dental care
state spending on oral health
smoking rates
fluoridated water availability

Minnesota didn't absolutely ace any particular criteria, but scored high (hello!) enough in each category to be ranked sixth overall in the nation. Nearly 3/4 of Minnesota adults still have all of our teeth. I wonder how high (hello!) we would've ranked if we kept Brainerd out of the equation (don't @ me, I used to live there).

California is vain AF (they probably think this article is about them THEY'RE SO VAIN) and ranked #1 in toof healf.

Virginia's never getting their flag back from us, but they finished just ahead of Minnesota at #5 in dental health.

The Toothless

CALL ME A HICK AGAIN, HiCcUp! (Getty Images)

If you're in Virginia and you have a phobia of teeth, just go west, young man!

West Virginia ranks dead last in dental health, with nearly half of their adults missing some teeth. They have the highest (helloest!) smoking rate in the nation and only have 49 dentists per 100,000 people.

Oh, mountain mama!