Tip Sheets

Resources that can help you investigate oral health in your local Hispanic community

By Mary Otto

Since 2006, the goal of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos has been to gain a better understanding of how a range of chronic diseases and conditions impact contemporary Hispanic and Latino populations and to determine the roles that specific biological and cultural factors may play in shaping the health of these communities.

The work is ongoing. The SOL Data Book provides details of findings from the project’s first funding cycle, which ran from 2006-13.

And this sortable table, HCHS/SOL Publications in Print, lists nearly 200 published papers that have come out of HCHS/SOL so far.

Hispanics, together with non-Hispanic blacks, Native Americans and Alaska Natives, have poorer oral health than other U.S. racial and ethnic minorities, studies have found. Here is a useful fact sheet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that offers a summary of what research has shown so far.

April is National Minority Oral Health Month. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health is hosting a series of events including weekly webinars that will look at topics including research in Indian country, reducing behavioral health disparities, the use of community health workers and the health needs of migrant workers.