Cases of tooth loss are rising among people who dismiss bleeding gums as a minor issue. Gingivitis and periodontal disease have become the most commonly treated conditions in South Korea's outpatient statistics over the past decade.
The number of patients treated for gingivitis and periodontal disease rose 48.7% over 10 years, from 13,432,010 in 2015 to 19,972,412 in 2025, according to outpatient frequency data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service released on Sept. 13. The condition first topped the overall outpatient rankings in 2019 and has remained at or near the top for six years. That means two out of every five Koreans received treatment for periodontal disease in a single year.
The pace of increase has slowed recently. The year-on-year increase in patients fell to 384,000 in 2025 from 819,000 in 2023 and 752,000 in 2024, while the growth rate declined from 4.5% to 4.0% and then 2.0%.
The National Health Information Portal run by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency lists the main warning signs of periodontal disease as gums that turn dark red or swell, bleeding when brushing teeth or spitting, receding gums that make teeth look longer, bad breath and loose teeth. Pain is often absent until gum disease has progressed considerably. Missing the early signs can allow the disease to spread to the jawbone and lead to tooth loss.
According to data compiled from multiple studies and presented in a magazine published by the National Health Insurance Service, people with periodontal disease had rates of diabetes six times higher, stroke 2.8 times higher and cardiovascular disease 2.2 times higher than those without it. The disease control agency also says periodontal disease is linked to systemic conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, premature birth and rheumatoid arthritis.
The prevalence of periodontal disease among adults aged 19 and over stood at 23.4%, based on the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. By age group, an analysis of National Health Insurance Service treatment data showed patient numbers rise sharply among people in their 20s, followed by those in their 50s, 60s and 40s. Among middle-aged and older adults aged 40 and over, the share experiencing gum disease climbs to between 80% and 90%.
Preventive care, by contrast, has not kept pace. An analysis of health care big data by the Korean Academy of Periodontology found that only 25.9% of the population had received teeth scaling, which helps prevent periodontal disease.
Separate statistics based on the number of patients per 100,000 people, rather than the number of treatments, show the same ranking. According to the National Health Insurance Service's regional health care utilization yearbook, there were 44,713 periodontal disease patients per 100,000 people in 2024, the highest among the major conditions surveyed. That is two to more than five times the figures for hypertension (15,064), arthritis (14,508) and diabetes (8,020).
