Healthy States Initiative, Council of State Governments, June 2008. This policy brief addresses the impact of oral diseases among children and adults. Among school-age children (5 to 17), tooth decay is the most common chronic disease — five times more prevalent than asthma and seven times more prevalent than hay fever. Children lose approximately 50 million school hours each year to dental-related illnesses, and low-income children lose 12 times as much. This report also provides state policy examples from Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, and Ohio.