About 42% of American adults aged 30 and over have some form of gum disease, according to CDC researchers' analysis of national examination data, and among adults 65 and older, it is about 60%.1 That makes gum disease one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States, and most people who have it do not know they do.
How many adults have gum disease?
The best national estimate (about 42% of adults 30 and over) comes from NHANES, the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the same national program that tracks obesity, blood pressure, and diabetes. NHANES doesn't just ask people about their gums; trained examiners actually measure them. When CDC researchers led by Paul Eke analyzed the 2009–2014 examination data, the finding was stark: about 42% of US adults aged 30 and over have some form of gum disease.1 Worth being precise about what that measures: the technical term for what NHANES examiners found is periodontitis: gum disease that has progressed beyond its earliest, reversible stage. The 42% doesn't even include gingivitis, the milder form, so the share of adults with any gum inflammation at all is higher still.
Roughly two in five adults over 30 have a chronic disease of the mouth. And, as we'll see, most of them don't know it.
Sit with that for a moment. This is not a rare condition, a fringe condition, or an old-age-only condition. By the CDC's own measurement, gum disease is roughly as ordinary among American adults as flipping a coin and calling it wrong.
Does gum disease get more common with age?
Yes, steadily. In the same CDC data, about 60% of adults 65 and older have gum disease, because prevalence isn't spread evenly across the lifespan; it accumulates.1
That pattern makes sense once you know how the disease works. As we explain in the stages of gum disease, it's a progressive condition: it starts as reversible inflammation and, left unaddressed, advances into the bone and tissue that support the teeth. Give a slow, quiet disease a few more decades to run and you get exactly what the data shows: a condition that touches roughly two in five adults over 30 and roughly three in five of their parents' generation. Age itself isn't the only factor; smoking and diabetes are two of the clearest risk multipliers, and we cover them in who is at higher risk.
If it's this common, why haven't I heard about it?
Because a condition this widespread stays invisible when it doesn't hurt. The reason is built into the disease itself. Early gum disease is essentially painless. There's no toothache to sound the alarm, no fever, nothing that forces a doctor's visit. The signs it does give (a little redness, a little bleeding when you floss) are easy to dismiss for years.
The result is a disease that hides in plain sight inside roughly two in five adults. Most people who have gum disease don't know they have it. That's not a statistic; it's the plain consequence of a painless disease meeting a population that only goes to the dentist when something hurts. We take that story apart properly in the silent disease.
Why one number belongs next to another
Elsewhere in this library, we report a second government finding worth placing beside this one: only about 1 in 3 US adults report flossing every day, and because that figure is self-reported, the true number is likely lower.2 Two in three adults without a daily habit of cleaning between the teeth; some form of gum disease in about 42% of adults over 30, measured in the very same national survey program.
We won't overclaim the connection: no home tool has been proven to prevent periodontitis, and gum disease has multiple risk factors. But the research does show that cleaning between the teeth reduces gum inflammation, the earliest stage of the disease, and that regular interdental cleaners are associated with less gum disease. Two national numbers of this size, sitting side by side in the government's own data, are at minimum worth taking seriously together. You can see the flossing side of the ledger in how many people actually floss.
Why does prevalence matter beyond the mouth?
Because the effects may not stop at the gumline. A disease carried by this large a share of the population would matter either way, but increasingly the research suggests they don't: gum disease is associated with conditions elsewhere in the body, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Those are associations, not proven causes (and we're careful about that distinction), but they're a major reason clinicians, researchers, and even insurers have started paying real attention to the gums. We explore that evidence in the mouth-body connection.
The takeaway from the prevalence data is simple: gum disease is not someone else's problem. At 42% of adults over 30, it is statistically close to a coin flip that it's yours or belongs to someone at your dinner table, and the earliest, most treatable stage is precisely the one that announces itself least.
Common questions
How was the 42% figure measured?
It comes from NHANES, the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Unlike surveys that only ask people about themselves, NHANES sends trained examiners to measure gums directly. CDC researchers led by Paul Eke analyzed the 2009–2014 examination data to produce the estimate.1
How common is gum disease in older adults?
About 60% of adults 65 and older have gum disease, in the same CDC data.1 Prevalence accumulates with age because gum disease is progressive: inflammation that was never fully controlled earlier in life is still on the books decades later. Who is at higher risk covers the other factors that shift the odds.
If gum disease is this common, how would I know whether I have it?
Most people who have it don't know. Early gum disease is essentially painless, so the signs it gives are quiet ones: a little redness, a little bleeding when you clean between your teeth. Because there is no toothache to sound the alarm, finding it usually depends on a dental visit, where a professional can measure what you cannot feel. We take that apart in the silent disease.
How does gum disease prevalence compare with how many people floss?
Only about 1 in 3 US adults report flossing every day, and because that figure is self-reported the true number is likely lower.2 Some form of gum disease is present in about 42% of adults over 30, measured in the same national survey program.1 The two figures are not proof of a causal link, but they come from the same data source and are worth reading side by side.
- Eke PI, et al. / CDC: periodontitis prevalence among US adults, NHANES 2009–2014; NIDCR/NIH data pages (2024). Examination-based national survey data: ~42% of adults 30+, ~60% of adults 65+.
- Fleming EB, et al. Prevalence of daily flossing among adults by selected risk factors, NHANES 2011–2014. Journal of Periodontology, 2018. CDC authors. PMC6434526. Self-reported survey data.