How has dental prevention reshaped generational demand for dental work? Substantially, and in a way that has permanently changed the demand curve. Fluoride in public water supplies, fluoride toothpaste, electric toothbrushes, accessible dental flossing, regular preventive visits during childhood, and the orthodontic intervention rates of recent generations have produced cohorts of adults with dramatically better baseline dental health than their parents or grandparents had at the same age. Statins, prescribed for cardiovascular reasons, have an unintended side effect of reducing periodontal inflammation, which further reduces dental disease in older patients. The effect is generational and cumulative. Adults under 45 today typically [...]