The Role of Interpersonal Racism Experiences on Adolescent Oral Health

Although access to oral healthcare services has improved for children and adolescents across the United States in recent years, inequities in oral health outcomes persist. Several oral health inequities are rooted in structures of racism, which manifest as disparities in socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and physical and mental health. Individuals of racial/ethnic minority groups experience oral health disparities on a larger scale. Racial discrimination has a significant impact on oral health, and patient reported experiences with discrimination have been found to correlate with inequitable access to oral health services. There is a gap in knowledge regarding the relationship between adolescent experiences with racism and their oral health-related behaviors and outcomes. Lifetime oral health habits are often formed during the adolescent years; therefore, it is vital that research is conducted to evaluate the impact of various factors, including racial discrimination, on oral health in this population and ways in which access, education, and comfort can be improved. In other populations discussed in literature, the relationship between racism and oral health is presented as being multifactorial and has shown that inequitable access to oral health services and psychological stress impacts oral health behaviors and clinical outcomes. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate adolescent patients’ (ages 11 to 17 years) experiences with interpersonal racism (IPR) and its potential relationship to their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and behaviors. In this study, adolescent patients who reported experiences with IPR did not have decreased oral health-related quality of life when compared to adolescent patients who did not report experiences with IPR. Additionally, adolescent patients who reported experiences with IPR did not have increased oral health risk-related behaviors when compared to patients who did not report experiences with IPR. However, patients who did not report experiences with institutional discrimination on the Adolescent Discrimination Distress Index (ADDI) had statistically significant better OHRQoL. Furthermore, higher scores on the ADDI were found to correlate with brushing less than two times per day. There is a need for further research to assess the relationship between interpersonal racism and oral health in the adolescent population in order to eliminate existing significant disparities and to improve oral health outcomes.