NIH Funds Latino Childhood Oral Health Disparities Research

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will award 10 research grants of more than $7 million aimed at eliminating inequities in access to care and improving the oral health of children. These awards support the Multidisciplinary and Collaborative Research Consortium to Reduce Oral Health Disparities in Children an initiative of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).

“By establishing this research consortium, NIDCR seeks to lead national efforts in reducing childhood oral health disparities,” said NIDCR Director Dr. Martha Somerman. “Among the projects awarded are those that test innovative health promotion and disease prevention strategies and evaluate and refine existing programs and policies.”

It has been reported by the NIDCR that children from minority or ethnic families with low levels of education or low income are more likely to develop oral diseases. Latino children are twice are about twice as likely as white children to have untreated tooth decay in primary teeth.

“Research has shown that individual-level approaches alone are not sufficient to reduce rates of tooth decay and other oral diseases,” said NIDCR Health Disparities Research Program Director Dr. Ruth Nowjack-Raymer. “Therefore, the consortium’s research projects will involve holistic, population health and other approaches to take decisive action against oral health disparities at multiple levels of influence, such as families, neighborhoods, and health care systems.”

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