Does social disadvantage contribute to oral pain?

While oral pain is a common condition, a recent study sought to better understand the role social determinants of health may play in its incidence.

In a cross-sectional study published in Science Progress, investigators used data from the 2011 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to assess the relationship between social determinants of health — which included eight factors, including employment status, poverty income ratio, food security, access to healthcare, health insurance status, educational attainment, home ownership and marital status — and oral pain among more than 14,000 participants aged 30 years and older.

Compared with those who did not have oral pain, the investigators found that the participants who reported oral pain were more likely to have poorer social determinants of health scores. For instance, those with the highest burden of social determinants of health were more than 2.5 times as likely to experience oral pain compared with those with the lowest burden. In addition, each of the components of the social determinants of health score were independently linked to oral pain and financial barriers to dental care contributed to about one-third of the association.

According to a news article from the Dental Tribune reporting on the results of the study, the investigators suggested that oral pain may be tied to factors that go beyond oral health behaviors as well as psychosocial and physiological pathways.

The findings emphasized the critical need to improve access to and the affordability of dental care among underserved patient populations and take steps toward dismantling inequities in oral healthcare.

Read more: Dental Tribune

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