SAN CARLOS-As she looked at the Disney characters decorating the walls of the San Carlos Apache Healthcare Dental Clinic and at the smiling, laughing children watching dental health demonstrations, Suzanne Haney thought back to what a trip to the dentist used to be.

"Back then, it was so different, it was in the '70s you know, the treatment wasn't great," said Haney, a grandmother and primary caretaker for three children under age eight. "It made you afraid to come to the dentist."

That was just one of the challenges facing health care officials on the San Carlos Apache reservation as they str...