Discrimination and Dignity Experiences in Prior Oral Care Visits Predict Racialized Oral Health Inequities Among Nationally Representative US Adults.

Racism, an oppressive and fallacious sociopolitical hierarchy, is a fundamental cause of oral health inequities worldwide. Everyday discrimination is associated with worse self-rated oral health, toothache and adult tooth loss, and lower oral care utilization. Few studies examine discrimination or microaggressions within oral care settings or their effects on oral health outcomes. We adapted the seven-item Everyday Discrimination Scale to the oral care setting (EDSOC); developed a four-item Dignity in Oral Care Scale (DOCS); fielded them to a probability-based nationally representative sample of US households as part of the 2022 State of Oral Health Equity in America survey (SOHEA, n = 5682); and examined associations between EDSOC and DOCS scores and three outcomes: self-rated oral health, duration since last oral care visit, and planning for future preventive/routine oral care. Nearly, all EDSCOC and DOCS measures were significantly associated with oral health outcomes. Discrimination experience in dental settings had an additive effect on reporting fair/poor oral health and a suppressive effect on planning a future dental visit. Indignity experience doubled-to-quadrupled the likelihood of reporting fair/poor oral health, not having visited a dentist in 2 years, and not planning a future oral care visit. Racio-ethnically minoritized patients may experience the unjust double bind of resolving urgent dental or completing preventive services needs amidst being treated in a discriminatory manner or without dignity. Oral health stakeholders should invest more effort to understand relationships between racism and oral health outcomes and introduce evidence-based interventions to ultimately abolish this societal harm.

Prevalence of daily flossing among adults by selected risk factors for periodontal disease-United States, 2011-2014.

BACKGROUND: Daily flossing prevalence was determined among adults ≥30 years old in the United States, by demographic and risk factors for periodontal disease, including current tobacco use and diabetes. METHODS: Data from the 2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed for 8,356 adults. Flossing prevalence was estimated. Logistic regression analysis examined the association between daily flossing and demographic and risk factors for periodontal diseases. RESULTS: Daily flossing among adults was 31.6% (standard error [SE] = 0.8). There were significant differences among the categories of flossing according to age, sex, race/Hispanic origin, poverty status, education, current tobacco use, and diabetes status. In adjusted analyses, current tobacco users (odds ratio [OR]: 0.82; 95% confidence index [CI] 0.68, 0.99) had lower odds of daily flossing than non-tobacco users; there was no significant difference between adults with and without diabetes (OR 0.75; 95% CI 0.52, 1.08). CONCLUSION: Approximately one-third of adults in the United States reported that they floss daily. Daily flossing was higher among women, those with higher income, and non-Hispanic Asian and Hispanic adults, but it was lower among current tobacco users.

The status of HIV prevention efforts for women in correctional facilities.

In the United States, women are a significant proportion of the correctional population. Women also account for an increasing proportion of newly diagnosed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cases. When compared with white women, black women have higher incarceration rates and represent more of the newly diagnosed HIV cases. Correctional facilities offer an opportunity to provide women with HIV testing and prevention services so that they will know their status and receive HIV/sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk-reduction counseling and other preventive services. In this report, we describe incarcerated population statistics and HIV surveillance epidemiology for women. We also describe HIV prevention activities undertaken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. Additional research, program development, and implementation are needed to improve HIV prevention efforts for high-risk women.