Edentulism among middle-aged and older Asian Americans

Objectives: Due to the lack of data, there is little understanding of disparities in oral health among Asian Americans. We examined the prevalence of endentulism (complete tooth loss) among Chinese, Filipino, Asian Indian, and other Asians/Pacific Islanders (API) Americans aged 50 and over. Methods: Data came from multiple waves of the National Health Interview Survey between 1999 and 2008. Respondents were those aged 50 and above at the time of interview, including 663 Chinese, 708 Filipinos, 336 Asian Indians, and 959 other API's. In addition, 86,755 Whites were included as the reference group. Results: Relative to endentulism among Whites (17.4%), Filipinos had a higher prevalence of edentulism (20.0%), whereas there was less endentulism among other API's (11.1%), Chinese (9.7%), and Asian Indians (9.1%). After controlling for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, health status, health behavior, and dental visits, the prevalence of endentulism among Whites remained significantly different from those in Filipinos (OR=1.65; 95% CI: 1.31,2.10), Chinese (OR=0.65; 95% CI: 0.48-0.87) and other APIs (OR=0.70; 95% CI: 0.55-0.88), although the difference between Asian Indians and Whites was no longer significant statistically. Overall, there was a significant downward trend of endentulism between 1999 and 2008 (OR=.97; 95% CI: .96-.98). However, no variations were observed in this trend across the four subgroups of Asian Americans. Implications: Significant disparities in edentulism exist across Filipinos, Chinese, Asian Indians and other APIs relative to Whites. These disparities should be taken into account when formulating future dental public health policies.