According to a new study from Colorado School of Public Health shows that despite some modest improvements, poor oral health remains a major problem in the Navajo Nation and among American Indians overall.

Terrence Batliner, DDS, MBA, associate director of the Center for Native Oral Health Research at the School of Public Health, stated that: “The oral health among Native Americans is abysmal with more than three times the disease of the rest of the country and that the number one problem is access to care.”

The study, published recently in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry, showed that 69.5 percent of Navajo children had untreated tooth decay. While that’s better than the 82.9 percent in 1999, it’s still unacceptably high.