Ghaffari Affan, Bradbury Russell F, Harman Jeffrey
Author Affiliation: Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine Department, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida (Dr Ghaffari, Bradbury, and Dr Harman).
Fam Community Health. 2025;48(2):130-143. doi: 10.1097/FCH.0000000000000425. Epub 2025 Jan 8.
Though preventive measures are available to alleviate the burden of dental caries, there remain racial disparities in the utilization of preventative dental care. Our objectives were to determine whether racial disparities persisted in receiving preventive oral procedures between (1) Black children and white children; and (2) Hispanic children and white children.
We used pooled Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data in the United States from 2018 to 2021. The key outcome variable involved the use of preventive dental services (ie, examination, x-rays, cleaning, dental sealant fitting, and fluoride treatment), while the main predictor variable involved race (ie, whether they were white, Black, or Hispanic children).
Controlling for covariates, there was no statistical significance in the odds of Hispanic and white children in receiving x-rays, sealants, and fluoride treatment ( P < .001). Black children had significantly lower odds of receiving oral examination, x-rays, and fluoride treatment than their white counterparts ( P < .01).
This study highlights the massive strides made in the utilization of preventive dental services by Hispanic children in the United States along with the persisting disparities largely present for Black children; however, further studies are needed focusing on structural, sociocultural, and factors contributing to these disparities.
尽管有预防措施可减轻龋齿负担，但预防性牙科护理的使用仍存在种族差异。我们的目的是确定（1）黑人儿童与白人儿童之间；以及（2）西班牙裔儿童与白人儿童之间在接受预防性口腔治疗方面是否仍存在种族差异。
我们使用了2018年至2021年美国医疗支出面板调查的汇总数据。关键结果变量涉及预防性牙科服务的使用（即检查、X光、清洁、安装牙釉质封闭剂和氟化物治疗），而主要预测变量涉及种族（即他们是白人、黑人还是西班牙裔儿童）。
在控制协变量的情况下，西班牙裔儿童和白人儿童接受X光、牙釉质封闭剂和氟化物治疗的几率没有统计学意义（P <.001）。黑人儿童接受口腔检查、X光和氟化物治疗的几率明显低于白人儿童（P <.01）。
本研究凸显了美国西班牙裔儿童在预防性牙科服务使用方面取得的巨大进步，以及黑人儿童中持续存在的差异；然而，需要进一步开展研究，关注导致这些差异的结构、社会文化和其他因素。
