Future endeavors needed to close the socioeconomic gap in periodontal health

entire South Korean population with health care coverage since 1989, periodontal diseases have ranked among the top 10 diseases that were most seen in outpatient care over the years. In 2014, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES) and reported that the prevalence of severe periodontitis was 27.7% among adults aged over 19 years. However, despite the well-known benefits of regular dental checkups and consistent supportive periodontal therapy, most Koreans have been found to lack in receiving sufficient periodontal care. This phenomenon is well portraited in a longitudinal population-based study (https://doi. org/10.1111/jcpe.12056) by Professor Peter Meisel at the University of Greifswald in Germany. He stated that low socioeconomic status shows strong correlations with having more prevalent and more severe periodontal disease.