Effect of Parental Language Spoken at Home on Children's Preventive and Regular Dental Services Utilization in the United States

Objective: The issue of language barriers to medical care have been well documented. However, there is a paucity of information on the effect of language on dental services utilization for children in the United States. We examined the effect of parental language spoken at home on children's preventive and regular dental services utilization in the overall population and within the different racial and ethnic groups in the United States.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), 2002–2004. Descriptive and multivariable analyses were performed using regular and preventive dental visits as the main outcome variables.

Results: Among children aged 1-18 years, 13% speak a language other than English at home. In univariate analyses, females, children between the ages of 7 to 12 years, and those whose parents spoke English at home had highest rate of preventative and regular dental visits. However, within Hispanics, the multivariable regression analyses revealed that the effect of language was not significant after adjusting for other covariates; and parental education was the strongest predictor of preventive and regular dental visits.

Conclusion: Lower dental service utilization was not associated with parents not speaking English at home, even among racial/ethnic minority populations. This study suggests the need for further research into the effect of cultural influence as distinct from language in the assessment of dental services utilization.