The oral health of older people from minority ethnic communities in South East England

Objectives: To describe the clinical health status and subjective oral health status of older adults from minority ethnic communities resident in South East England. Design: Cross sectional survey incorporating a clinical examination and a questionnaire assessment of subjective oral health status. Setting: Community groups working with individuals from minority ethnic communities. Subjects: A total of 540 individuals from 7 minority ethnic communities. Measures: Clinical assessment of oral health status using BASCD criteria. Assessment of oral symptoms and impact experienced together with satisfaction with oral status, by structured questionnaire. Results: On all measures of clinical health status the participants were healthier than a comparison group based on data from the Adult Dental Health Survey. The participants expressed high levels of subjective oral symptoms. Levels of satisfaction were lower than those found in the Adult Dental Health Survey. There was evidence of some variation across minority ethnic communities in clinical and subjective oral health status. Conclusions: Approximately 20% of the 540 adults from minority ethnic communities resident in the South East of England surveyed were relatively fit orally. They experienced a great many oral symptoms, and in approximately 30% of individuals these were sufficient to interfere with their quality of life. Ethical approval: The research described in this paper was approved by the Ethics committee of King's College London.