However, the actual numbers reporting cutting down on dental check ups stoood at 16% and down from 20% in 2014.


The barometer reported that 46.7% of Portuguese citizens had not visited their dentist for over a year with those visiting dentists constituted in the main by women, children and the young and the higher social classes.


In turn, the dentist shy group was primarily made up of the elderly, residents in the south of the country and those on lower incomes.
Respondents primarily attributed their failure to visit a dentist over the last year to financial restrictions as had also been the case in 2014, the year of the first study.


Furthermore, the findings show that around one-third of all Portuguese citizens do not attend a dentist regularly and only in the case of emergency while 9.5% report never having gone to any dentist.


The barometer also pointed to a direct correlation between those lacking teeth and not going to the dentist with 37% of respondents stating they had more than six of their own teeth missing and up 5% on 2014.


Furthermore, 54% of survey respondents state that they have no substitute replacements for these missing teeth.


Finally, while 28% report having their teeth in full and present order, apart from their wisdom teeth, 97.4% report regularly brushing their teeth or engaging in other oral health hygiene practices.