Clinician’s Corner
A Pediatric Dentist’s Perspective on Combating Social Determinants of Health Tawana Lee-Ware, DDS, MSD, FACD Assistant Professor, Pediatric Dentistry Diplomate, American Board of Pediatric Dentists Indiana University School of Dentistry
T
he global COVID-19 pandemic revealed deficits in heath equity experienced by vulnerable and underrepresented populations on both a global and national level. In the United States, marginalized and minority populations suffered disproportionately due to the inequities in society and healthcare.1 The social determinants of health (SDoH) are increasingly recognized as a critical factor relating to health outcomes and general well-being. The practice of dentistry generally and the treatment of pediatric dental patients more specifically is greatly impacted by the SDoH. As a result, general and pediatric dentists are faced with working to identify, assess, and address the complex and multifaceted components of SDoH. While dental schools across the United States offer some dental public health content, the overall emphasis on public health and SDoH is limited.2 With the global
21
The central focus of this paper is to provide a means of identifying clinical implications of SDoH and strategies to address this dilemma for the underserved at-risk pediatric dental population. While the focus here is the pediatric patient population, these implications and strategies are applicable across our dental patient population spectrum ( from pediatric to geriatric dentistry). pandemic “lifting the veil” and exposing the realities of health inequities inherent to our national healthcare system, it became common knowledge and consumed news organization headlines with such statistics as African Americans making-up 13% of the US population but accounting for 30% of COVID-19 deaths.1 COVID-19 unlocked an opportunity to focus on health inequities and disparities to prompt dental school community and healthcare system conversations about professional and personal
challenges with systemic racism and challenges of healthcare systems. The central focus of this paper is to provide a means of identifying clinical implications of SDoH and strategies to address this dilemma for the underserved, at-risk pediatric dental population. While the focus here is the pediatric patient population, these implications and strategies are applicable across our dental patient population spectrum (from pediatric to geriatric dentistry).
2021 Volume 88, Number 3
