Decayed Prospects

Abstract

As controversy surrounding the Affordable Care Act continues to occupy the national landscape, inequality in access to care, especially among disadvantaged groups such as prisoners, garners comparably scant attention. While the corrections literature has examined prisoner health in more depth, fewer studies have specifically addressed the effects of prison dental care. Drawing on a sample of 30 adult male parolees, our study examines their experiences with prison dental services, how it affected their relationships during incarceration, and their reintegrative experiences-particularly with regard to employment. We find that dental care protocols are such that they often discourage inmates from seeking treatment, resulting in or exacerbate a damaged maxillofacial appearance, and that the social and psychological implications for reintegration are profound.

Former Incarceration, Time Served, and Perceived Oral Health among African American Women and Men

“…In other words, racial disparities in oral health occur not only in the general public to the disadvantage of Black populations, but also within the prison system. A consistent finding in the few studies that have documented racial disparities in oral health is that Black inmates are more likely than their white counterparts to have decaying teeth [34,41]. The present study builds on these insights to identify whether former incarceration status factors into variation in oral health among African American men and women specifically.…”

“…One contributing factor is that those who are imprisoned struggle accessing quality healthcare, which includes oral healthcare [18,20,33]. Research shows there is a general lack of dental care and support in penal facilities for currently incarcerated people [31,[34][35][36][37]. Unclear US federal and state guidelines on dental policy and procedures for prisons lead to a lack of services for incarcerated people [13].…”

“…As a consequence, the prevalence of treatable and preventable diseases such as periodontitis is high among those who are incarcerated and continues to be a challenge for those who need care [38,39]. Furthermore, among inmates, at least one study has found that longer detention durations are associated with progressively decaying dental health [34]. This finding is notable considering studies typically identify that experiencing incarceration of any amount of time is worse for health than the length of incarceration [7,27].…”

“…Oral Health among Incarcerated Black Men. Incarcerated Black Americans face additional structural barriers to maintaining oral health and accessing treatment beyond the barrier that incarceration generates [34,40]. In other words, racial disparities in oral health occur not only in the general public to the disadvantage of Black populations, but also within the prison system.…”