Skip to main content
PMC home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1990 Dec;80(Suppl):66–70. doi: 10.2105/ajph.80.suppl.66

The prevalence of total tooth loss, dental caries, and periodontal disease among Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Ricans: findings from HHANES 1982-1984.

A I Ismail 1, S M Szpunar 1
PMCID: PMC1404518  PMID: 9187585

Abstract

This paper describes the prevalence of total tooth loss, dental caries, and periodontal disease in 2,226 Puerto Ricans, 1,192 Cuban Americans, and 5,983 Mexican Americans, ages five to 74 years, who were examined during the 1982-84 Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES). The prevalence of total tooth loss was 2.60, 6.10, and 2.80 percent among Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Ricans, respectively. After adjusting for the confounding effects of age, sex, income, and education status, no statistically significant differences were found in the mean number of decayed teeth among the three groups of Hispanics. Puerto Rican children had an average of 2.09 filled teeth compared with an average of 1.39 and 1.43 filled teeth for Mexican Americans and Cuban Americans, respectively. In adults, Puerto Ricans and Cuban Americans had at least 40 percent higher mean number of filled teeth than Mexican Americans. Cuban American and Puerto Rican adults had about twice as many missing teeth as Mexican Americans. The pit-and-fissure tooth surfaces in children accounted for the majority of sites affected by caries. All Hispanics had a higher prevalence of gingivitis than American adults as estimated during the 1985-86 National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR) survey of American adults. Puerto Ricans had the highest level of periodontal disease and the highest Debris Index scores among the Hispanic groups.

Full text

PDF
67

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Burt B. A., Ismail A. I., Eklund S. A. Periodontal disease, tooth loss, and oral hygiene among older Americans. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1985 Apr;13(2):93–96. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1985.tb01684.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cisneros H. C., Di Angelis A. J., Katz R. V. Oral health findings in a Minnesota Latino population. Northwest Dent. 1979 Jan-Feb;58(1):7–11. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cohen D. W., Friedman L. A., Shapiro J., Kyle G. C., Franklin S. Diabetes mellitus and periodontal disease: two-year longitudinal observations. I. J Periodontol. 1970 Dec;41(12):709–712. doi: 10.1902/jop.1970.41.12.709. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Delgado J. L., Johnson C. L., Roy I., Treviño F. M. Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: methodological considerations. Am J Public Health. 1990 Dec;80 (Suppl):6–10. doi: 10.2105/ajph.80.suppl.6. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Elderton R. J., Nuttall N. M. Variation among dentists in planning treatment. Br Dent J. 1983 Apr 9;154(7):201–206. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.4805041. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. GREENE J. C., VERMILLION J. R. THE SIMPLIFIED ORAL HYGIENE INDEX. J Am Dent Assoc. 1964 Jan;68:7–13. doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.1964.0034. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gluck G. M., Knox C. D., Glass R. L., Wolfman M. Dental health of Puerto Rican migrant workers. Health Serv Rep. 1972 May;87(5):456–460. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Infirri J. S., Barmes D. E. Epidemiology of oral diseases--differences in national problems. Int Dent J. 1979 Sep;29(3):183–190. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ismail A. I., Burt B. A., Brunelle J. A. Prevalence of total tooth loss, dental caries, and periodontal disease in Mexican-American adults: results from the southwestern HHANES. J Dent Res. 1987 Jun;66(6):1183–1188. doi: 10.1177/00220345870660061801. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ismail A. L., Burt B. A., Brunelle J. A. Prevalence of dental caries and periodontal disease in Mexican American children aged 5 to 17 years: results from southwestern HHANES, 1982-83. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Am J Public Health. 1987 Aug;77(8):967–970. doi: 10.2105/ajph.77.8.967. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Merrett M. C., Elderton R. J. An in vitro study of restorative dental treatment decisions and dental caries. Br Dent J. 1984 Aug 25;157(4):128–133. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.4805448. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Nikias M. K., Fink R., Sollecito W. Oral health status in relation to socioeconomic and ethnic characteristics of urban adults in the U.S.A. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1977 Sep;5(5):200–206. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1977.tb01641.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. RUSSELL A. L. A system of classification and scoring for prevalence surveys of periodontal disease. J Dent Res. 1956 Jun;35(3):350–359. doi: 10.1177/00220345560350030401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Trevino F. M., Moss A. J. Health indicators for Hispanic, black, and white Americans. Vital Health Stat 10. 1984 Sep;(148):1–88. doi: 10.1037/e530302009-001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES