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Dental Research
Delta Dental Healthy Kids Dental
Barriers to Dental Care
Geographic concerns such as the location of the dental care office and
transportation may be a contributing factor. Other concerns involve timing.
Most times, its too difficult to take time off work in order to take your child to
the dentist (Center for Advancing Health, 2014). Other barriers include: long
wait times, dental fears, finance and pressing health needs or poor oral
health literacy.

About 1 of 5 (20 percent) children aged 5 to 11 years have at least one

untreated decayed tooth (CDC).
1 of 7 (13 percent) adolescents aged 12 to 19 years have at least one
untreated decayed tooth (CDC).
The percentage of children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 years with
untreated tooth decay is twice as high for those from low-income
families (25 percent) compared with children from higher-income
households (11 percent) (CDC).

Cultural Barriers to Dental Care

African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans generally have the
poorest oral health of any racial and ethnic groups in the United States.
Perception of oral health can differ by culture. Most find that language and
cultural differences are barriers to seeking dental care. Other times, it is the
lack of oral health literacy that contributes to lack of dental care.

The greatest racial and ethnic disparity among children aged 24 years
and aged 68 years is seen in Mexican American and black, nonHispanic children (CDC).
Blacks, non-Hispanics, and Mexican Americans aged 3544 years
experience untreated tooth decay nearly twice as much as white, nonHispanics (CDC).

African American
Despite the oral symptoms of those African Americans surveyed delayed or
avoided dental care due to a variety of dental fears. Fears included: pain
from needles, dental drill, having teeth extracted, contracting an illness from
unsanitary instruments, x-rays, or receiving poor quality care or
mistreatment (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health).
Latino

Latinos in the U.S. suffer from oral health challenges at a greater rate than
other populations. Lack of dental insurance and socioeconomic class as well
as the lack of information due to language barriers deter them from receiving
dental care.

The percentage of untreated oral disease for Latinos (40 percent) is nearly
double that for whites (24 percent) (DentalCare.com, November 2011).
30 percent of Latinos believed that cavities will go away on their own if
you brush regularly (DentalCare.com, November 2011).
46 percent did not know that poor oral health may be linked to other
health complications such as heart disease and diabetes.
(DentalCare.com, November 2011)

Asian
As previously stated, language and cultural differences contributes as
barriers to dental care. Finance is another key factor. According to the report
Barriers to Health Care Access in 13 Asian American Communities, those
surveyed from the Taiwanese community mentioned that some of their
members travelled to their native country to undergo expensive medical and
dental treatment because it is more affordable. Some other barriers include
long waiting times.

18 percent of Vietnamese immigrants and refugees also cited long wait

time and taking time off work (11 percent) as barriers (Barriers to
Health Care Access in 13 Asian American Communities).
75 percent of Asian American participants responded that they had
used some form of complementary and alternative medicine, in the
past year, most commonly herbal therapies (Barriers to Health Care
Access in 13 Asian American Communities).

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