Health policy implementation for healthier and more affordable nutrition and oral health care for the low income African American Population in Chicago
Location
Poster #9
Department
Other
Abstract
Is there a disparity between the African American population and other racial groups when it comes to oral health outcomes? There are still disparities even though great improvements have been made as far as closing the gap between the African American population and other racial groups when it comes to oral health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to show that statistically, over 40% of low-income and non-Hispanic Black adults have untreated tooth decay which has a negative impact on quality of life and productivity. Overall, the pervasive oral health disparity in services provided and disease outcomes between African Americans and other races would take systematic collaborative effort with the public health system to bring about change in closing the gap - which can be accomplished through policy administration. Policy administration would provide the needed funding for free dental care and food vouchers which will enable this target population to purchase more nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, and even dental supplies like fluoridated toothpastes, mouthwashes and floss. The methodology used to accomplish this change is an assessment tool created for the participant to appropriately answer questions about their overall lifestyle including nutrition in the form of a questionnaire. After which responses are tallied for analysis of the data collected. Oral health issues are an important area of health that often gets overlooked until it becomes pervasive and starts to reflect negatively on overall health. Unfortunately, ongoing attempts to correct this issue of oral health disparity has proven futile for multiple reasons; one of which has been the reluctance of our society to incorporate racism into studies - making scientific pursuit as a whole silently racist thereby impeding inventions for interventions that might reduce or eliminate racial oral health inequities. Some implications are a low quality of life where dental diseases become painful, experience of loss of teeth and other oral health issues persists, and even lack of self esteem. Keywords: Oral care, dental care, policy, low-income, and disparity.
Faculty Sponsor
Chika Ejike
Health policy implementation for healthier and more affordable nutrition and oral health care for the low income African American Population in Chicago
Poster #9
Is there a disparity between the African American population and other racial groups when it comes to oral health outcomes? There are still disparities even though great improvements have been made as far as closing the gap between the African American population and other racial groups when it comes to oral health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to show that statistically, over 40% of low-income and non-Hispanic Black adults have untreated tooth decay which has a negative impact on quality of life and productivity. Overall, the pervasive oral health disparity in services provided and disease outcomes between African Americans and other races would take systematic collaborative effort with the public health system to bring about change in closing the gap - which can be accomplished through policy administration. Policy administration would provide the needed funding for free dental care and food vouchers which will enable this target population to purchase more nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, and even dental supplies like fluoridated toothpastes, mouthwashes and floss. The methodology used to accomplish this change is an assessment tool created for the participant to appropriately answer questions about their overall lifestyle including nutrition in the form of a questionnaire. After which responses are tallied for analysis of the data collected. Oral health issues are an important area of health that often gets overlooked until it becomes pervasive and starts to reflect negatively on overall health. Unfortunately, ongoing attempts to correct this issue of oral health disparity has proven futile for multiple reasons; one of which has been the reluctance of our society to incorporate racism into studies - making scientific pursuit as a whole silently racist thereby impeding inventions for interventions that might reduce or eliminate racial oral health inequities. Some implications are a low quality of life where dental diseases become painful, experience of loss of teeth and other oral health issues persists, and even lack of self esteem. Keywords: Oral care, dental care, policy, low-income, and disparity.