More than 3,200 children aged 12 to 16 who live in the northern Manhattan communities of Central Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood were included in the Columbia University study. Of those 94 percent were either Hispanic or black, with 2,300 youth identifying themselves as Hispanic - mostly of Dominican ancestry.
The study is important because most studies on oral health of Hispanics are of Mexican-American youth says study co-author Luisa Borrell. She is a dentist and epidemiologist, who is also an assistant professor of epidemiology with Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
"The study provides important information on the oral health for a Hispanic subgroup other than Mexican Americans, from whom we have recent national data. Studies focusing on other Hispanic subgroups will help us understand the difference within the Hispanic population and will underscore the need to examine health outcomes for each Hispanic subgroup whenever the data is available," Borrell said.
Study results will help researchers figure out what the problems are in achieving dental health for that group of youth.
The youngsters filled out surveys on their dental health habits during a visit to a dentist at the school's clinic. At that visit, researchers found that 52 percent of the Hispanic participants and 54 percent of the black youth had cavities.
Researchers found less plaque on the teeth of Hispanic youth than other youth. Also, 94 percent of Hispanic youths said they brush daily compared with 83 percent of blacks and 85 percent of the other children in the study and Hispanic youths were more likely to floss.
Still, Borrell cautioned that the study's findings were incomplete because researchers had no information on the education and income of the participant's families. They also had no information on which of the children were foreign born, "which can be a protective effect for health," Borrell said.
Past studies have found that income has an effect on dental health, with poor children more likely to have cavities. Dentists treating children find 80 percent of the cavities in 20 percent of the children.
The Columbia study was published in the November issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
