ArticleCommunity dentistry and oral epidemiology2023
Perceived experiences of racism linked to dental fear and anxiety among Black women.
Article in Community dentistry and oral epidemiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Discrimination and (In)dignity in the Oral Health Care Setting and Oral Health Outcomes: A Latent Class Analysis.Community dentistry and oral epidemiology · 2026Article
- The Role of Medicaid Dental Benefits in Access to Preventive Dental Care and Unmet Dental Needs During Pregnancy.Research square · 2025Article
- A census-matched survey of dental fear and fear-treatment interest in the United States.Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) · 2025Article
- Perceived racism associated with declines in self-rated oral health among U.S. Black women.Annals of epidemiology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
objectivesDental fear and anxiety are known determinants of delaying or avoiding dental care and vary considerably based on factors such as age and gender. However, little is known about dental fear and anxiety in racial/ethnic minority populations, which bear a disproportionate burden of poor oral health outcomes. Structural and social pathways responsible for producing these disparities are also understudied. Experiences of racism over the lifecourse may contribute to poor oral health outcomes through a pathway of dental fear and anxiety. This paper aimed to evaluate perceived experiences with racism, dental fear and anxiety, and the utilization of dental services, in the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS), a United States-based prospective cohort.
methodsAnalysis of prospective data obtained from a geographic subset of participants in the BWHS was conducted. In 2014, BWHS participants residing in Massachusetts responded to a mailed oral health questionnaire that included the Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+) instrument (N = 484; 69% response rate). Previously collected demographic and health information, along with reported experiences of everyday and lifetime racism, obtained from national BWHS questionnaires between 1995 and 2009, were merged with the Massachusetts-based sub-sample. Associations between high dental anxiety (HDA) (mean IDAF-4C+ score ≥2.5 on the dental fear and anxiety module) and oral health outcomes and perceived racism and HDA were explored via prevalence ratios (PR) calculated using log-binomial regression models, including adjustment for potential confounders.
resultsReported exposures to everyday racism occurred weekly on average for the top 25% of the sample, while 13% of participants reported exposure to multiple (n = 3) experiences of unfair treatment due to their race over their lifetime. HDA was prevalent among 17.8% of the sample and was significantly associated with indicators of poor oral health status. High exposures to everyday and lifetime experiences of racism were positively associated with HDA (PR = 1.08; 95% CI: 0.90, 1.58 and PR = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.88, respectively).
conclusionsSignificant associations between racism and HDA, and between HDA and poor oral health and reduced utilization of dental care were observed. Dental anxiety may be a pathway through which perceived experiences with racism may impact oral health outcomes.
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