Office of Oral Health

Dental Programs and Services
Initiatives, Plans and Surveys
Dental Organizations

Oral Health is an essential part of a healthy life.

Tooth decay (cavities) is the single most common chronic disease of childhood, occurring five to eight times as much as asthma. Poor oral health has recently been linked to heart disease, low birth weight and diabetes.

Despite the reduction in cases of decay in recent years, nationally more than half of all children have cavities by the second grade, and by the time students finish high school, about 80 percent have cavities. Unless it is stopped early, dental decay is irreversible.

The good news is that dental disease is mostly preventable, and Vermont ranks high among other states in the number of people who access dental services.

60 percent of the children surveyed in grades one to three were cavity free.
64 percent of eight year old children had sealants on at least one of their permanent molars.
85 percent of children in grades one to three required preventative care only.

Find out more at: "Keep Smiling Vermont" Oral Health Survey (pdf).