Analysis of a Pediatric Dental School Patient Population Revealed Increasing Trends of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Patients: Implications for Pediatric Dental Public Health and Access to Care

Abstract

Based upon the lack of current information regarding the pediatric patient population at UNLV-SDM, the overall goal of this project was to analyze the demographic characteristics of this population, indicators for socioeconomic status (SES), such as enrollment in Medicaid, and other barriers to healthcare access, such as non-English/non-Spanish languages spoken. Using an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved protocol, this analysis revealed the percentage of minority pediatric patients between 2010 and 2020 increased among African Americans, Asian Americans, and mixed or multiracial patients, while decreasing among Hispanics. Analysis of the Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients and guardians found an overall increase in the number of non-English/non-Spanish languages spoken from n = 4 in 2010 to n = 21 in 2020 with no significant changes in Medicaid/CHIP enrollment identified between 2010 and 2020 (76.7%, 77.9%, p = 0.988). These data suggest the composition of the patient population has experienced significant shifts over time, with more patients of mixed racial backgrounds and increased numbers of Limited English Proficiency (non-English/non-Spanish foreign languages) spoken. These data may suggest there is an increased need for multilingual health materials, training, and translators for pediatric oral health within this population.

Administration of Clinical COVID-19 Mouthwashing Protocol and Potential Modulation of Pediatric Oral Bacterial Prevalence of Selenomonas noxia: A Pilot Study

“…Another potential limitation was that this study did not evaluate the potential effects of prolonged exposure to repeated daily periods of mouth rinse over longer and more standardized periods of time, which may have the potential to exhibit more robust and sustained effects on S. noxia as has been observed in other previous studies and trials of Gram-positive and Gram-negative oral bacteria using mouthwash and mouth rinsing agents [ 28 , 48 , 49 ]. Finally, this study was not able to control for oral hygiene and oral health status among this low-income, pediatric population—which may have had the potential to influence these observations as barriers and challenges to promote oral health have been observed within this specific clinical patient population [ 50 , 51 , 52 ].…”

Analysis of Pediatric Pulpotomy, Pulpectomy, and Extractions in Primary Teeth Revealed No Significant Association with Subsequent Root Canal Therapy and Extractions in Permanent Teeth: A Retrospective Study

“…In order for future studies to account for these variations, it is important to discuss the limitations of this study. First, this is a retrospective study of previously collected data and may have bias intrinsic to the study sample due to the nature of this low-income, predominantly minority clinic population, which may face significant challenges and barriers to health care access and oral health prevention [ 22 , 39 ]. In addition, the reduced nature of some of the procedures performed during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been due to changes in protocols for dental care, which reduced the number of available openings for treatment, as well as changes in patient or parent behaviors, including delays in care due to safety concerns [ 40 , 41 ].…”

Prevalence of Oral Pathogen Slackia exigua among Clinical Orthodontic and Non-Orthodontic Saliva Samples

“…As patients were originally recruited based upon voluntary participation, some bias and differences may exist between patients who agreed to participate versus those who declined participation [23][24][25]. Furthermore, the recruitment of patients was performed exclusively within the clinical patient population at a public university-based dental school, which has been demonstrated to serve a large proportion of low-income and minority patients with public assistance programs including Medicaid-which may have significantly influenced the number of patients with poor oral health [29,30]. Finally, due to the specific limitations of the original protocols for the collection of saliva samples, several other confounding factors and variables regarding the oral health and clinical status of these patients remain unknown, such as the periodontal pocket depth (PPD), the decayed, missing, and filled teeth or DMFT score, and the overall caries risk of these patients.…”