Too many children in Washington suffer from poor oral health. This can lead to pain and suffering that negatively affects learning, nutrition, and lifelong health and well-being.

Dental disease is a serious problem for children. It is the most common childhood disease affecting five times as many children as asthma.

A problem we can solve

The vast majority of oral disease is preventable. And, despite recent progress, our state’s dental care system is fragmented and inadequate to ensure all children are served with consistent oral health care. Improving oral health will require solutions on a variety of levels:

• Improve education about oral health, including ways to access care.
• Grow the number of dental care providers serving Apple Health for Kids enrollees.
• Increase the number of dental care providers through the addition of a licensed dental practitioner.

Children's Alliance is working to advance oral health access through state-level policy solutions. Learn more about our approach to policy change.

Chronic pain hurts learning

An estimated 51 million school hours across the nation per year are lost due to children’s dental related problems. Poor oral health decreases children’s performance in school and can result in a failure to thrive.  

It is hard to eat with a sore mouth

Children with pain and infection due to tooth decay limit their food choices because of problems with chewing. Poor nutrition can affect a child’s ability to learn and have developmental impacts that stay through adulthood.

The gateway to good health

Children with severe dental problems grow up to be adults with severe dental problems. Oral disease and tooth decay have been linked to a number of serious heath problems including heart disease, diabetes and even death.

Oral health and equality

Gains in oral health prevention and care have not been experienced by all children equally. Kids who are low-income, children of color, and non-English speaking have higher levels of dental disease, untreated cavities, and fewer dental sealants than other

Share your experience

Have you had problems finding affordable dental health care? Join our efforts to fill the need for routine, quality dental care, please consider sharing your story.  

Learn more 

Visit our resources and references page or read our fact sheet to learn more about oral health overall and Children's Alliance's efforts to expand access to oral health care and improve kids' health. 

For more information about Children's Alliance work to improve oral health access contact Tera Bianchi, MSW, Oral Health Project Manager at 206.324.0340 x28 or Tera <at> childrensalliance <dot> org.