We are committed to improving oral health as an important part of overall health.

Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General (Executive Summary)

• Dental caries (tooth decay) is the single most common chronic childhood disease – 5 times more common than asthma and 7 times more common than hay fever.
   
• Children from families without dental insurance are 3 times more likely to have dental needs than children with either private or public insurance.  For each child without medical insurance, there are at least 2.6 children without dental insurance.
   
• More than 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental related illness.
   
• Employed adults lose more than 164 million hours of work each year due to dental disease or dental visits.
   
• For every adult age 19 or over without medical insurance, there are three without dental insurance.
   
• Oral and pharyngeal cancers are diagnosed in about 30,000 Americans annually; 8,000 die from these diseases each year. These cancers are primarily diagnosed in the elderly.  Prognosis is poor. The 5-year survival rate for white patients is 56 percent; for blacks, it is only 34percent.

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion

• Nearly 1 out of 3 people in Arizona did not visit the dentist in the last year.

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion

• 14% of Arizonans age 65+ are toothless.

Health, United States, 2005

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