Oral Health Service Access in Racial/Ethnic Minority Neighborhoods: A Geospatial Analysis in Washington, DC, USA

Meirong Liu, Dennis Kao, Xinbin Gu, Whittni Holland and Gail Cherry-Peppers
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Meirong Liu: School of Social Work, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
Dennis Kao: School of Social Work, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
Xinbin Gu: College of Dentistry, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
Whittni Holland: School of Social Work, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
Gail Cherry-Peppers: College of Dentistry, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: Previous studies on individual-level variables have improved our knowledge base of oral health service use. However, environmental or contextual variables are also important in understanding oral health disparities in racial and ethnic neighborhoods. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, this study examines the geographic availability of oral health providers in Washing-ton DC, U.S.A. Census tract-level data were drawn from the American Community Survey, joined with tract-level shapefiles, and overlaid with the geographic location of dental services throughout the city. Visual maps, descriptive statistics, and spatial lag regression models showed that census tracts with higher concentrations of African Americans were significantly farther from their nearest oral health providers (r = 0.19, p < 0.001), after controlling for neighborhood poverty rate, median age, and gender. Such findings confirm that in urban areas with highly di-verse populations such as Washington DC, racial disparities in oral health care access are signifi-cant. The study highlights that identifying neighborhoods with limited oral health care providers should be a priority in diminishing racial disparities in oral health service access. Improving access to racial/ethnic minority communities, especially African American neighborhoods, will require changes in health policies and programs, workforce development, resource allocation, community outreach, and educational programs.

Keywords: spatial accessibility; oral health services; racial and ethnic neighborhoods; African Americans (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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