Oral Health Status of Asian-American and Non-Hispanic White Children in the United States: NHANES 2011-2018.

Purpose: To (1) examine the association of race/ethnicity with the prevalence of untreated dental caries and dental caries experience in a population of Asian-American and non-Hispanic White children in the United States, and (2) examine whether these associations vary by family income-to-poverty ratio.

Methods

This cross-sectional, population-based study analyzed 4,875 children ages two to 19 years from multiple National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data cycles (2011 to 2018). The race/ethnicity of each participating child was measured using parent/caregiver survey responses, while oral health outcome variables, untreated dental caries, and dental caries experience were measured using clinical oral health examination data. Descriptive analysis and log binomial regression analyses were performed. The final models were adjusted for the participants' demographic and household characteristics. Unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and respective 95 percent confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated.

Results

Race/ethnicity was not significantly associated with the prevalence of untreated dental caries (adjusted PR equals 0.95; 95% CI equals 0.77 to 1.18) or dental caries experience (adjusted PR equals 1.03; 95% CI equals 0.92 to 1.15) among Asian-American and non-Hispanic White children. When examining variation in associations by family income-to-poverty ratio, no interaction was observed between race/ethnicity and family income-to-poverty ratio for dental caries experience and untreated dental caries (P-value for interaction ≥ 0.05).

Conclusion

Despite no significant associations, additional surveillance and investigation of Asian-American subgroups are needed to determine if certain ethnic Asian-American populations suffer a disproportionate burden of oral disease.