This article provides estimates of dental caries and dental sealant use among U.S. children and adolescents, obtained from Phase 1 (1988-1991) of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. More than 60 percent of children under the age of 10 years had a caries-free primary dentition; among children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years, about 55 percent had a caries-free permanent dentition. The highest percentages of dental caries among children and adolescents continue to be distributed disproportionally among about 25 percent of the U.S. population. Fewer than one in five U.S. children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years had one or more sealed permanent teeth.

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