Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, University of Adelaide Dental School, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Melbourne.
Community Dent Health. 2021 May 28;38(2):150-155. doi: 10.1922/CDH_IADRHedges06.
Racial discrimination, which can be structural, interpersonal and intrapersonal, has causal links with oral health morbidity (dental caries, periodontal disease) and mortality (tooth loss). Racism impacts on oral health in three main ways: (1) institutional racism creates differential access to oral health services; (2) cultural racism, which is structurally pervasive, results in poorer psychological and physiological wellbeing of those discriminated against and; (3) interpersonal racism undermines important dental health service provider-patient relationships. Indigenous Australians have experienced sustained racial discrimination since European colonisation in the 1780s. This includes Government policies of land and custom theft, assimilation, child removal and restrictions on Indigenous people's civil rights, residence, mobility and employment. Australia failed to enumerate Indigenous people in the Census until 1967, with the 'White Australia' policy only ending in 1973. In our paper we posit that all minority groups experience racial discrimination that impacts oral health, but that this is amplified among Indigenous groups in Australia because of ongoing legacies of colonialism, institutional racism and intergenerational trauma.
种族歧视可分为结构性、人际间和个体内的，它与口腔健康发病（龋齿、牙周病）和死亡（牙齿缺失）存在因果关系。种族主义主要通过以下三种方式影响口腔健康：（1）体制上的种族主义导致获得口腔保健服务的机会存在差异；（2）文化上的种族主义普遍存在，导致受歧视者的心理和生理健康状况恶化；（3）人际间的种族主义破坏了牙医和患者之间重要的关系。自 18 世纪 80 年代欧洲殖民以来，澳大利亚原住民一直经历着持续的种族歧视。这包括政府的土地和习俗盗窃、同化、儿童被带走以及对原住民公民权利、居住、迁移和就业的限制。直到 1967 年，澳大利亚才在人口普查中对原住民进行了统计，“白澳”政策直到 1973 年才结束。在我们的论文中，我们假设所有少数群体都经历过影响口腔健康的种族歧视，但在澳大利亚的原住民群体中，这种歧视因殖民主义、体制上的种族主义和代际创伤的持续影响而加剧。
