Forty percent of children and nearly 60 percent of adults on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota suffer from moderate to urgent dental needs, according to a new study.

Researchers traveled to the reservation to study the oral health of 292 adults and children. They discovered that 84 percent of children in the study and 97 percent of adults had ongoing decay, which could lead to loss of permanent teeth.

"Many of the Pine Ridge residents suffer daily from wrenching dental pain yet they face huge barriers to getting routine care,” said lead author Terry Batliner, DDS of the Colorado School of Public Health and a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

The Checkup Study was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

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Press Release: Study of Oral Health in Indian Reservation: 90 Percent Suffer Tooth Decay (W.K. Kellogg Foundation 11/2)