Tooth Decay - not diabetes or obesity - also known as cavities (also called caries) is the most common chronic childhood disease in America.

According to the CDC , although dental caries (tooth decay) is largely preventable, it remains the most common chronic disease of children aged 6 to 11 years (25%) and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years (59%). Tooth decay is four times more common than asthma among adolescents aged 14 to 17 years (59% compared with 15%).

"Dental caries is the most common chronic disease among children and it is becoming more prevalent nationwide, disproportionately among children in low-income families and certain minority groups," said John Featherstone, PhD, dean of the UCSF School of Dentistry. "This disease is very difficult and expensive to treat in young children, but it is largely preventable."

The 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, from the Centers for Disease Control, illustrated these disparities in children by race/ethnicity, with 42 percent of Mexican American and 32 percent of black children ages 2-5 having decayed or filled teeth, compared with 24 percent of white children.