Welcome

Dear Colleagues:

The Health Resources and Services Administration is pleased to present this chartbook highlighting the major findings of the National Survey of Children’s Health on children’s oral health. This survey, the first of its kind, presents national- and State-level information on the health and well-being of children and their use of health services, including oral health and dental care.

The survey includes many positive findings about children’s oral health. It found that most children’s teeth are in excellent or very good condition, and most receive annual preventive dental care and do not go without needed dental care. Overall, 90.4 percent of children have teeth that are in excellent, very good, or good condition, according to their parents, and 72 percent had a preventive dental visit in the past year. Moreover, the parents of 92.9 percent of children report that their children had received all the dental care they needed in the past year.

However, some groups of children do not enjoy good oral health and do not receive all the care they need. Younger children are less likely to receive preventive dental health care than are school-aged children, and fewer than one-quarter of 2-year-olds received a preventive dental visit, despite the recommendation that all children see a dentist by age 1. Also of concern is the finding that the parents of 88.9 percent of children who did not see a dentist in the past year did not believe that their children needed a preventive dental visit.

We at HRSA hope that these findings provide useful information on children’s oral health and are helpful in your efforts to promote appropriate dental care among children.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth M. Duke
Administrator
Department of Health & Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration