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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Social factors and periodontitis in an older population
Luisa N Borrell1, Brian A Burt, Harold W Neighbors
1Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. lnb2@columbia.edu
Objectives:
We assessed the prevalences of periodontitis by education and income levels among US adults with data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Methods:
The study was limited to non-Hispanic Blacks, Mexican Americans, and non-Hispanic Whites 50 years of age or older with a complete periodontal assessment during the dental examination.
Results:
Blacks with higher education and income levels had a significantly higher prevalence of periodontitis than their White and Mexican-American counterparts. The relationship between income level and periodontitis was modified by race/ethnicity. High-income Blacks exhibited a higher prevalence of periodontitis than did low-income Blacks and high-income Whites.
Conclusions:
Our findings call attention to the importance of recognizing socioeconomic status-related health differences across racial/ethnic groups within the social, political, and historical context.
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