Volume 9 • 2022 • Issue 5

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of the Canadian Dental Association. Reference: 1. Borrell LN, Williams DR. Racism and oral health equity in the United States: Identifying its effects and providing future directions. J Public Health Dent. 2022 Mar;82 Suppl 1:8-11. are more likely to work in communities of racial or ethnic minorities, where more dentists are needed to provide adequate access to care. These dentists are also more likely to work with more patients who rely on government programs for oral health care. “We have evidence showing that if your dentist is from the same racial or ethnic group as you, patients are more likely to comply with the dentists’ suggestions to improve their oral health,” Dr. Borrell says. Dr. Borrell’s article includes some concrete solutions to the problems she raises. “The diversity of the dental profession in the U.S. has been largely static for the last 20 years, so we need to work on a more diverse student body for the dental schools,” she says. As well, dental school curriculum could better integrate information about how social determinants of health and other factors interact with oral health. “A greater emphasis on the relationship between oral health and the person as a whole: their social situation, their changing needs as they age is something that has already happened in other fields like nursing and medicine and I believe dentistry would benefit from it too,” Dr. Borrell says. Incentives to recruit and retain racial and ethnic minority dentists in underserved communities would also help, according to Dr. Borrell. “Diversity in dentistry has more than a symbolic value,” Dr. Borrell says. “It has very real, measurable benefits for people’s health.” Diversity in dentistry has more than a symbolic value. It has very real, measurable benefits for people’s health. Issues and People