Sharon Keeler, sharon.keeler@asu.edu
(480) 965-4012
August 22, 2005

ASU study suggests minority and low-income groups less likely to visit the dentist

A new ASU study adds to a growing body of work that suggests that disparity in access to dental health care still exists for minorities and lower income groups in the United States.

Results of the study, presented Aug. 13 at the American Sociological Association annual meeting in Philadelphia, Penn., show that blacks, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Hispanics are less likely to seek dental care than non-Hispanic whites.

The study presents a description of the pattern of dental health care use over time, and provides a more representative sample of racial and ethnic minorities than previous work.

Data for the longitudinal study was obtained from the 1999 – 2000 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Authors include Sam Kim, an ASU graduate research associate; Jennie Kronenfeld, chair of ASU’s Department of Sociology; and Patrick Rivers, an associate professor and director of the health care management program at Southern Illinois University (formerly of ASU).

Results reveal that 61.4 percent of non-Hispanic whites received some form of dental health care service during the study period, whereas just 47.3 percent of Asians, 39.6 percent of blacks and 34.8 percent of Hispanics had received dental care.

“In general, the low rate of health care utilization among minorities is attributed to the lack of knowledge about the importance of preventive health care, and the fact that private dental insurance is often unaffordable and less likely to be provided at their places of work,” says Kim, a graduate research associate in ASU’s Department of Sociology.

Kim also notes that the cultural and ethnic difference in preventive health measures may further explain the low utilization among minorities, as well as inexperience with use of dental services for some ethnic minorities who are recent immigrants to the United States.

“For many lower-income parents, Medicaid and SCHIP in many states do cover dental care services,” Kim says. “It is important that public education programs about the importance of preventive care and appropriate use of health care services stress dental care as one of those important services.”

Additional factors that negatively influence dental care use include living in a rural area and, to a lesser extent, lower levels of education and being of a young age. Gender and marital status were irrelevant.

Whereas 82.9 percent of respondents in metropolitan areas reported visiting a dentist’s office, just 17.1 percent of those living in non-metropolitan areas did so.

Kim says this is possibly caused by the lack of availability of dental hygienists in rural areas, as well as lower levels of self-perceived health status and the importance of dental care.

“Public education messages about the importance of dental care would be helpful, not only in general media outlets, but also in those that target non-metropolitan areas and minorities,” Kim says. “Irregular dental visits increase susceptibility to oral disease and can lead to more severe health problems – the American Dental Association links gum disease to higher rates of heart attack and stroke.”

Keeler, with Marketing & Strategic Communications, can be reached at (480) 965-4012 or (sharon.keeler@asu.edu).