Oral health among white, black, and Mexican-American elders: an examination of edentulism and dental caries.
OBJECTIVE
To examine racial/ethnic disparities in oral health among older Americans.


METHODS
Differences in frequency of edentulism and number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth were assessed in 2,679 non-Hispanic white, 742 non-Hispanic black, and 934 Mexican-American individuals aged 60 and older from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2004).


RESULTS
Controlling for potential confounding variables, blacks and Mexican-Americans had significantly higher numbers of decayed teeth but fewer numbers of filled teeth than whites. Although blacks had a lower likelihood of being edentulous than whites, dentate blacks had a higher number of missing teeth. Compared with whites, Mexican-Americans were less likely to be edentulous, and dentate Mexican-Americans had fewer missing teeth. Our study also showed that blacks and Mexican-Americans had less frequent dental checkups than whites.


CONCLUSIONS
Oral health disparities are persistent across racial/ethnic groups for older Americans despite the fact that the differences between groups typically diminish when socioeconomic, health-related, and behavioral factors are considered in the models. Our study suggests that reducing racial/ethnic oral health disparities requires multiple clinical approaches.
School of Nursing, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. bei.wu@duke.edu
Bei
B
Wu
Jersey
J
Liang
Brenda L
BL
Plassman
R Corey
RC
Remle
Lina
L
Bai
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D004245:DMF Index; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007576:Jaw, Edentulous, Partially / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D009066:Mouth, Edentulous / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009909:Oral Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D012944:Social Support; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*