Dental · Benchmarks · for The Uninsured Patient List
Dental benefits coverage, visits and what patients pay
The national coverage and visit figures, the spending total and the RAND study that The Uninsured Patient List quotes in Chapters 1 and 2, kept here with their dates because the surveys are updated and the book can't be.
Last checked: 11 October 2026
What changes: the ADA Health Policy Institute updates its coverage and spending pages as new survey years come out; this page is re-dated when they do.
Every figure is labelled published: from a public, primary source, shown exactly as the book's numbers sheet records it, with the source, its publisher, the data year and the date it was read. See the editorial policy.
These are national figures, not practice benchmarks. They describe the population, not any one practice's patients, and none of them says who would join a plan or how often members come. A practice counts its own pool from its own records (Chapter 1).
About one in five US adults aged 19-64 (21%) and over half of seniors (54%, not counting Medicare Advantage) have no dental benefits; few children (7%) have none.
What the book says, in its own words (claim C01).
In the book: Chapter 1
| Figure | Value | Data | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| No dental benefits; re-read on this book's capture date 2026-10-11: unchanged percent of adults 19-64 |
21% Published |
HPI page, captured 2026-09-25 |
Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/coverage-access-outcomes |
| Public dental benefits, adults 19-64 (coverage may be limited by state) percent of adults 19-64 |
15% Published |
HPI page captured 2026-10-11 |
Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/coverage-access-outcomes |
| No dental benefits, children 0-18 percent of children 0-18 |
7% Published |
HPI page captured 2026-10-11 |
Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/coverage-access-outcomes |
| No dental benefits, adults 65 and older (not accounting for Medicare Advantage plans) percent of adults 65+ |
54% Published |
HPI page captured 2026-10-11 |
Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/coverage-access-outcomes |
Caveat (the book's): National shares; a practice's own pool is counted from its own records.
Adults 19-64 with no dental insurance were far less likely to see a dentist in 2024 (17%) than those with private dental insurance (53%); for seniors, 48% against 76%.
What the book says, in its own words (claim C02).
In the book: Chapter 2
| Figure | Value | Data | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Had at least one dental visit in 2024, adults 19-64 with no dental insurance percent of adults 19-64 with no dental insurance |
17% Published |
2024 data; captured 2026-10-11 |
Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/coverage-access-outcomes |
| Had at least one dental visit in 2024, adults 19-64 with private dental insurance percent of adults 19-64 with private dental insurance |
53% Published |
2024 data; captured 2026-10-11 |
Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/coverage-access-outcomes |
| Had at least one dental visit in 2024, seniors with no dental insurance (not accounting for Medicare Advantage) percent of adults 65+ with no dental insurance |
48% Published |
2024 data; captured 2026-10-11 |
Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/coverage-access-outcomes |
| Had at least one dental visit in 2024, seniors with private dental insurance percent of adults 65+ with private dental insurance |
76% Published |
2024 data; captured 2026-10-11 |
Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/coverage-access-outcomes |
Caveat (the book's): Population rates, not a practice's patients; association only.
In 2020, 72.0% of adults 18-64 with dental insurance had a visit, against 45.4% without (book two's figures).
What the book says, in its own words (claim C03).
In the book: Chapter 2
| Figure | Value | Data | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visit rate, insured percent of adults 18-64 with dental insurance |
72.0% Published |
2020 NHIS |
QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Aged 18-64 Years Who Had a Dental Visit in the Past 12 Months, by Dental Insurance and Year (NHIS 2019-2020). MMWR (PMC mirror). CDC / NCHS Captured 11 October 2026 · https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9042356/ |
| Visit rate, uninsured percent of adults 18-64 without dental insurance |
45.4% Published |
2020 NHIS |
QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Aged 18-64 Years Who Had a Dental Visit in the Past 12 Months, by Dental Insurance and Year (NHIS 2019-2020). MMWR (PMC mirror). CDC / NCHS Captured 11 October 2026 · https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9042356/ |
Caveat (the book's): Pandemic year; association.
In a randomized US trial, dental spending rose 46% when patients' share of the price fell from 95% to nothing: what a patient pays per visit changes how much care they use.
What the book says, in its own words (claim C04).
In the book: Chapter 2
| Figure | Value | Data | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| RAND HIE: the highest coinsurance rate compared percent coinsurance |
95% Published |
1986 |
Manning WG, Bailit HL, Benjamin B, Newhouse JP. The Demand for Dental Care: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Health Insurance. RAND R-3225, 1986. RAND Corporation Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3225.html |
| RAND Health Insurance Experiment: dental expenses rise this much when coinsurance falls from 95% to 0% percent |
46% Published |
Manning et al., RAND R-3225, 1986 |
Manning WG, Bailit HL, Benjamin B, Newhouse JP. The Demand for Dental Care: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Health Insurance. RAND R-3225, 1986. RAND Corporation Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3225.html |
Caveat (the book's): Insurance cost sharing in the 1970s-80s; used only for the mechanism, dated in the sentence.
US dental spending was $189 billion in 2024, and patients' own payments are its largest source.
What the book says, in its own words (claim C11).
In the book: Chapter 2
| Figure | Value | Data | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| National dental expenditure in 2024 (HPI analysis of CMS data); out-of-pocket the largest source billion US dollars |
189 Published |
2024 data; captured 2026-10-11 |
National Dental Expenditures, 2024. ADA Health Policy Institute. American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute (analysis of CMS data) Captured 11 October 2026 · https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dental-care-market/national-dental-expenses |
Caveat (the book's): Context only.
Source notes
- Coverage, Access & Outcomes. ADA Health Policy Institute. (American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute; Page undated; 2024 visit data; captured 11 October 2026)
National survey shares; association, not cause. The visit rates are a population's (most of whom are not anyone's patient), not a practice's active patients. Book two captured 63% private on 2026-09-25; the page read 64% on 2026-10-11 (no-benefits share unchanged at 21%). - QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Aged 18-64 Years Who Had a Dental Visit in the Past 12 Months, by Dental Insurance and Year (NHIS 2019-2020). MMWR (PMC mirror). (CDC / NCHS; 2020 data; captured 11 October 2026)
Pandemic year; association only. Imported under book two's IDs. - Manning WG, Bailit HL, Benjamin B, Newhouse JP. The Demand for Dental Care: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Health Insurance. RAND R-3225, 1986. (RAND Corporation; 1986 (experiment 1974-1982); captured 11 October 2026)
Insurance cost sharing in 1974-1982, not a membership plan; expenses, not visits; old. Used only for the mechanism (price per visit matters), labelled with its date. - National Dental Expenditures, 2024. ADA Health Policy Institute. (American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute (analysis of CMS data); 2024 data; CMS release January 2026; captured 11 October 2026)
Context only; the split by payer is in a chart, not text, and is not used.
Back to the companion page for The Uninsured Patient List, or run the membership plan calculator. Its figures here are recorded in the book's foundation files (commit 948d6ca5).