• Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease among Arizona children-- 5 times more common than asthma.¹
  
  
• One in three Arizona children (34%) under the age of three has experienced tooth decay.²
  
  
• Arizona children on average have 5 teeth affected by tooth decay. This is three times higher than the national average of 1.4 teeth with decay or fillings.^3,4
  
  
• Some children are severely affected and have as many as 20 teeth with decay or fillings.³
  
  
• On average, each Arizona child with tooth decay needs six fillings.³
  
  
• Early childhood dental caries occurs in all racial and socioeconomic groups; however, it approaches near epidemic proportions among low income children.⁵

¹ US Department of Health and Human Services. Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health; 2000.
² Arizona Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health Services, Public Health Prevention Services, Office of Oral Health: Arizona Dental Survey of Preschool Children, 1994-1995.
³ Arizona Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health Services, Public Health Prevention Services, Office of Oral Health: Arizona School Dental Survey, 1999-2003.
⁴ Beltran-Aguilar ED, Barker LK, Canto MT, Dye BA, Gooch BF, Griffin SO, Hyman J, Jaramillo F, Kingman A, Nowjack-Raymer R, Selwitz RH, Wu T; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Surveillance for dental caries, dental sealants, tooth retention, edentulism, and enamel fluorosis--United States, 1988-1994 and 1999-2002. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2005;54:1-43. Abstract PubMed.
⁵ American Academy of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Vol. 111, No.5, May 2003.