Original ContributionsCover StoryOral health status and oral health care use among formerly incarcerated people
Section snippets
Sample
Data for our study are from waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative sample of adolescents enrolled in grades 7 through 12 during the 1994 through 1995 academic year and subsequently followed into young adulthood. To date, respondents have been followed through 4 waves of data collection: wave I (1994-1995), wave II (1995-1996), wave III (2001), and wave IV (2008). At wave IV, respondents were between 24 and 34
Results
The summary statistics for the analytic sample are provided in Table 1. Approximately 3% of respondents reported having periodontal disease, and 56% reported not receiving oral health care in the year before the wave IV interview. About 14% of respondents reported being formerly incarcerated. Mean age of the sample was 28 years; 69.1% were non-Hispanic white, 14.5% were non-Hispanic black, and 11.6% were Hispanic.
Table 2 presents the results of the logistic regression of self-reported
Discussion
We examined self-reported periodontal disease and self-reported oral health care use among formerly incarcerated people by using data from a nationally representative sample of young adults in the United States. Several key findings emerged. First, formerly incarcerated people were more likely to experience periodontal disease than their never-incarcerated counterparts. Second, the direct relationship between incarceration history and periodontal disease was diminished to statistical
Conclusions
The results of our study show that formerly incarcerated people in the United States have worse oral health outcomes than do those who have never been incarcerated and that much of this relationship is explained by lower socioeconomic status and worse health behaviors among formerly incarcerated people. The results of our study bolster the need for future research that further identifies pathways through which incarceration history could lead to oral health problems. For example, researchers
Dr. Testa is an assistant professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, 501 W. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78207
References (65)
- et al.
Toward a criminal justice epidemiology: behavioral and physical health of probationers and parolees in the United States
J Crim Justice
(2012) - et al.
An empirical assessment of the “healthy prisoner hypothesis.”
Soc Sci Med
(2015) - et al.
The infectious disease profile of Texas prison inmates
Prev Med (Baltim)
(2004) - et al.
Oral health status of male prisoners in Italy
Int Dent J
(2007) - et al.
A survey on oral health status and treatment needs of life-imprisoned inmates in central jails of Karnataka, India
Int Dent J
(2012) - et al.
Predictors of dental care use: findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
J Adolesc Heal
(2013) - et al.
Oral health status and longitudinal cardiometabolic risk in a national sample of young adults
JADA
(2017) - et al.
Drug use in the year after prison
Soc Sci Med
(2019) - et al.
Sugars and dental caries
Am J Clin Nutr
(2003) - et al.
Promoting health equity to prevent crime
Prev Med (Baltim)
(2018)
Mass incarceration, public health, and widening inequality in the USA
Lancet
Correctional Populations in the United States, 2016
Prisoners in 2010
Collateral consequences of punishment: a critical review and path forward
Annu Rev Criminol
Incarceration, community health, and racial disparities
J Health Care Poor Underserved
The burden of infectious disease among inmates of and releasees from US correctional facilities, 1997
Am J Public Health
Enduring stigma: the long-term effects of incarceration on health
J Health Soc Behav
Incarceration and the health of the African American community
Du Bois Rev Soc Sci Res Race
Criminal (in)justice in the city and its associated health consequences
Am J Public Health
Variables affecting successful reintegration as perceived by offenders and professionals
J Offender Rehabil
Health-related issues in prisoner reentry
Crime Delinq
Health in Prisons: A WHO Guide to the Essentials in Prison Health
Dental health status, unmet needs, and utilization of services in a cohort of adult felons at admission and after three years incarceration
J Correct Heal Care
Oral health status among women inmates at Rikers Island Correctional Facility
J Correct Heal Care
A comparison of dental caries and tooth loss for Iowa prisoners with other prison populations and dentate U.S. adults
J Dent Hyg
Dental health care of prison populations
J Correct Heal Care
Oral health behind bars: a study of oral disease and its impact on the life quality of an older prison population
Gerodontology
Oral health status of prison inmates: New South Wales, Australia
Aust Dent J
Dental health of male inmates in a state prison system
J Public Health Dent
Medical Problems of Prisoners
Oral health of remand prisoners in HMP Brixton, London
Br Dent J
Oral health status of a federal prison population
J Public Health Dent
Cited by (0)
Dr. Testa is an assistant professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, 501 W. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78207
Dr. Fahmy is an assistant professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX.
Disclosure. Drs. Testa and Fahmy did not report any disclosures.
This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.