Oral Health Inequalities: Relationships between Environmental and Individual Factors

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Epidemiology
• Oral Health Research

Background:

• Environmental and individual factors impact population oral health and health inequalities.
• Limited understanding exists on how these factors interact to affect clinical and subjective oral health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore longitudinal interrelationships between environmental and individual factors on clinical and subjective oral health outcomes in adults.
• To investigate direct and mediated pathways influencing oral health inequalities.

Main Methods:

• A cohort study of 495 adult employees in India.
• Collected self-reported data on oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL), individual factors (SOC, social support, stress, beliefs, behaviors, subjective SES), and environmental factors (SES, social network) at baseline and 3-month follow-up.
• Utilized lagged structural equation modeling based on an adapted Wilson and Cleary/Brunner and Marmot model.

Main Results:

• Socioeconomic status (SES) appears to influence resources such as social support and sense of coherence (SOC).
• These resources mediate the effect of stress on subjective oral health outcomes.
• Findings support the psychosocial pathway as critical in the SES-oral health relationship.

Conclusions:

• The study identifies pathways where environmental and individual factors interact to affect subjective oral health.
• These findings suggest opportunities for developing targeted oral health promotion strategies.
• The psychosocial pathway is highlighted as a key mechanism linking SES to oral health.