Racial Oral Health Disparities—The Evidence from NHANES

• In Event: 3129 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 20. Health Lifestyles and Disparities

Abstract

This study examined racial oral health disparities among Non-Hispanic Whites, Non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. This study included 14, 019 adults older than 20 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2016. Oral health is measured by self-rated oral health, the frequencies of dentist visits, and the number of teeth. Exposures of interest refers to social gradients, which include education, annual family income, foreign born, and citizenship. Covariates included age, gender, and marital status. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to estimates the effects of social gradients on self-rated oral health and dentist visits. Linear regression model was applied to estimate the effects of social gradients on the number of teeth. Overall, Hispanics presented the most disadvantaged social gradients. Compared to Non-Hispanic Whites and Asians, Non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics present adverse oral health status and higher proportion of irregular dentist visits. Foreign-born, higher education levels and annual family income play protective role on oral health outcomes, while respondents who do not have citizenship are at higher risk of self-rated fair/poor oral health and dentist visits.

Author

• Chengming Han, Case Western Reserve University