Immigrant/Refugee Subjective Oral Health as a Reflection of Clinical Measures

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare perceptions of oral health to actual periodontal health and caries risk status among immigrant/refugee patients.
Methods: To assess subjective immigrant/refugee oral health, a survey was administered in an open-interview format to 17 immigrants and refugees. Periodontal health and caries risk status was also assessed. Fisher’s exact tests were conducted to test for association between subjective oral health and clinical measures.
Results: Overall, most patients who reported improved oral health also reported no increase in homecare activities (p = 0.010), suggesting that any changes in their oral health, as compared to their initial assessment, were attributed to the quality of the dental services received at the dental school. 30% of patients reported having visited their dentist in their home country only on an emergency basis or for pain management. Patients with an improved subjective oral health image were far less likely to mention issues-based dental visits (p = 0.028). Of note, all patients who were diagnosed with any form of periodontal disease received the appropriate treatment (p < 0.004). However, no association between periodontal status and caries risk status (p = 0.593) or between periodontal disease and subjective oral health status (p = 0.600) was observed. Interestingly, 66% of patients who reported an improved oral health status were diagnosed with chronic generalized periodontitis at the first visit. Likewise, nearly 70% of patients reported improved subjective oral health and increased frequency of dental visits since arriving in the United States.
Conclusions: Immigrants/refugees reported improved subjective oral health, reduced issues-based dental visits, and increased frequency of regular dental visits since arriving in the United States, indicating an overall improvement in oral healthcare since arriving in the United States compared to their countries of origin.