Disparities in Access to Oral Health and Oral Health Outcomes in the Latino Community: A Growing Epidemic

The 2000 Surgeon General's Report concluded that oral health was essential to overall health and that for underprivileged children a “silent epidemic” existed; dental decay being “the single most common childhood disease, 5 times more common than asthma” and poor children having “12 times as many activity restricted days per year” due to dental illnesses. With great disparities in SES, some 10 million inhabitants call Los Angeles County home; near 50% are Latinos, and 36% were born in foreign countries. A study was conducted to investigate the social determinants of oral health and current oral health status of underprivileged children and Los Angeles County. This is the most comprehensive study of oral health among underprivileged children of Los Angeles County. The study documented oral health profiles of underprivileged children and prepared for the design of culturally appropriate community interventions in the future. This study showed a higher than anticipated prevalence of caries in Latino children and explored many of the complexities and challenges Latinos face when accessing dental care, and thus documented great disparities in oral health outcomes. This study is a call to address a growing and alarming epidemic of dental disease in Latinos.