Social Support and Immigrants’ Oral Health: A Systematic Review

Objectives: Adaptation to social life changes after migration may be beneficial or detrimental to migrants’ oral health outcomes and related behaviors. This systematic review aimed to summarize the scientific literature on the impact of social support on immigrants’ and ethnic minorities’ oral health status and/or behaviors.
Methods: A comprehensive electronic search was conducted from inception till November 2018 using five electronic databases. We included cross-sectional and longitudinal quantitative studies that examined associations between social support and oral health outcomes among immigrants and ethnic minorities. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were completed in duplicate. The Newcastle-Ottawa checklist was used to appraise the methodological quality of the quantitative studies.
Results: A total of 26 studies met the eligibility criteria. All the included studies investigated the associations between social support and oral health outcomes including dental care utilization, oral health behaviors, oral health problems, self-rated oral health, oral health knowledge, and oral health-related quality of life among immigrants and ethnic minorities. The social support level was assessed either by social support indicators or by adopting certain scales. Overall, social support was positively associated with dental care utilization, number of carious teeth, periodontal disease, oral health behaviors, oral health knowledge, oral health-related quality of life, and self-rated oral health.
Conclusions: Although immigrants and ethnic minorities encounter several challenges after migration to a new country that would affect their oral health, social support from their surrounding environment in the form of structural or functional support have a vital role in improving their oral health outcomes.