College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL 60612, United States.
Community Dent Health. 2021 May 28;38(2):138-141. doi: 10.1922/CDH_IADREvans04.
This paper comments on the Effects of Racism on Oral Health in the United States (US). It provides the background and sets the stage to raise questions about race: how was race defined originally, what exactly is race, and how have racial categories been enumerated? Following this path, the paper broadens the scope of view regarding data attributable to racial categories pointing to social and cultural factors that influence overall health outcomes, particularly those related to oral health. Oral health researchers, advocates, providers, administrators, program planners, and funders, among others rely on data, often compiled by racial categories. We should be aware of potential vagaries that can accompany race-based data, and its interpretation and application, regarding oral health. The paper suggests we should be mindful of other influences that affect documented differences among populations regarding their oral health status.
本文评论了种族主义对美国（美国）口腔健康的影响。它提供了背景，并提出了关于种族的问题：种族最初是如何定义的，种族究竟是什么，以及种族类别是如何列举的？沿着这条道路，本文扩大了对归因于种族类别的数据的看法，指出了影响整体健康结果的社会和文化因素，特别是与口腔健康相关的因素。口腔健康研究人员、倡导者、提供者、管理人员、项目规划人员和资助者等都依赖于数据，这些数据通常是按种族类别汇编的。我们应该意识到基于种族的数据可能伴随的潜在变化，以及其对口腔健康的解释和应用。本文建议我们应该注意影响人口口腔健康状况记录差异的其他因素。
