The “20 Teeth at 70” Rule

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]They compared two groups, people with no natural teeth at all and people who still had 26 to 32 teeth, basically a full mouth. This group with no teeth had roughly a 1/3 higher risk of dying over that period, a third higher. That's not a small number and when your study is broken down by tooth count, you start to see something even more interesting.

[00:00:25]There seems to be a kind of threshold around 20 teeth. People with fewer than 20 natural teeth had a meaningfully higher risk of death than those with more than 20 teeth, even after adjusting for all those other health factors. And the more teeth they lost, the steeper the decline. So when researchers group people into buckets, zero to nine teeth, 10 to nine teeth [music] and 20 or more teeth, that for 20 or more group consistently does better in relation to health and survival and recovery from disease. Staying mobile, staying dependent and staying mentally sharp was significantly higher in that group.

[00:01:07]That's where the rule of thumb comes from that I want you to remember from now. 20 teeth at 70 is our goal.