What percent of the US population visits a physician each year, and
what percent of the US population visits a dentist each year?

Hello lbi,

According to the CDC publication ?Health United States 2004,? 64.5 %
of Americans made a dental visit in 2002.

Source: 
Dental visits in the past year according to selected characteristics:
United States, selected years 1997?2002 (page 198)


15.9 % of Americans did not have a health care visits to doctor?s
offices, emergency departments, and home visits in 2002, therefore
84.1 % of Americans visited a  Doctors in 2002.

Source: 
Table 71 Health care visits to doctor?s offices, emergency
departments, and home visits within the past 12 months, according to
selected characteristics: United States, selected years 1997?2002
(page 180)

Download ?Health United States 2004? here:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus04trend.pdf


The Philips Index 2004 supplies the following figures.

Doctors Visits  71%

?71% of Americans visit the doctor for a regular check-up at least
once a year. This is less true among young adults 18-25 (55%) and
increases steadily with age. By the time Americans are over 75,  92%
are visiting the doctor for check-ups at least on an annual basis.?

?For existing conditions, the frequency of doctor visits tends to be
every few months or a couple of times per year. However, as might be
expected, the frequency of doctors visits for known conditions
inclines steadily with age.?

Dentist Visits 64%

?Most Americans (64%) look after their teeth by having check-ups on an
annual or semi-annual basis. However, frequency is greatly reduced
among young adults and senior citizens, where only one-in-five (20%)
of people between 55-65 ?never or hardly ever? go to the dentist and
among those 66 and older, one-in-four never goes.?

The Philips Index 2004: (page 13, 14)
http://www.usa.philips.com/Assets/Downloadablefile/603043_USindex_FINAL-13071.pdf




Search terms used: 
site:www.cdc.gov percent of Americans dental visit
Percent of Americans visit the dentist
Percent of Americans visit the doctor


I hope the information provided is helpful!

Best regards,
Bobbie7

---

Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 26 Sep 2005 22:14 PDT

"Approximately 66 percent of Americans visit the dentist each year,
with an estimated 60 billion dollars currently being spent on dental
services, reports the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial
Research. "
UAB HEalth System: September 27, 2005
http://www.health.uab.edu/show.Asp?durki=11488

Dental visits by State 1999
http://www2.cdc.gov/nohss/ListV.asp?qkey=2

---

Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 26 Sep 2005 22:18 PDT

I found some additional relevant information for you at the CDC website.

Ambulatory Care Use/ Physician Visits
(Data are for U.S. for 2001)

Percent of adults who had contact with a health care professional in
the past year: 83.6
Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health
Interview Survey, 2003

Percent of children who had contact  with a health care professional
in the past year: 90
Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health
Interview Survey, 2002

Physician office visits 
Number of visits: 890 million
Number of visits per 100 persons: 314.4
Percent of visits made to primary care physicians: 62.7
Most frequent principal reason for visit: general medical examination
Most commonly diagnosed condition: essential hypertension
Source: National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2002 Summary

CDC: Fast Stats
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/docvisit.htm