About Us
Our Mission:
The Northwest Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities conducts community-based research. We focus on solutions to dental and oral health disparities among vulnerable, rural, or under-served groups, particularly low-income families with children.
NIDCR Centers for Research to Reduce Disparities in Oral Health
Why study oral health disparities?
The Northwest Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities focuses on dental caries (or tooth decay) in children because it is the major oral challenge U.S. society faces. In the year 2002, the Northwest/Alaska Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities developed a conceptual framework for work addressing dental health disparities and inequities in access to care and healthy teeth, particularly for mothers and children.
What is “oral health disparity”?
Oral health disparity means a disproportionate burden and risk of poor dental health in a particular population. The Center’s emphasis is on gender, race/ethnicity, literacy, income, and geographic location. Women in general have more dental visits than men, yet many women do not see a dentist during pregnancy, an important milestone. Ethnic and minority women have among the lowest rates of utilization overall.
How do you study oral health disparities in the Northwest Center?
In creating the Center we have tried to push our focus beyond the traditional practices. This Center represents a nontraditional collaboration of clinical and basic scientists, behavioral scientists, and experts in clinical microbiology and biometry that we believe is unique in most oral health research and is needed to address the complex problems at the root of oral health disparity.
What research have you done?
Previous research projects in the Center focused on a variety of topics including orthodontic intervention under Medicaid, adolescent dental avoidance and dental fear in rural communities, socio-biological boundaries in oral health, and microbiological studies of the effects of xylitol and of beta defensins in caries-prone children.
See the Baby Smiles page for information on our current research.
For more information, see our Center Research page.
Why study in the Northwest?
The Pacific Northwest comprises an extensive region with diverse populations. Many of our population groups face significant oral health problems exacerbated by limited access to health care. Our youngest children have the severest problems. The region stretches from the urban areas of Western Washington State and Seattle to the agricultural areas of Washington, Idaho, Montana and the remote villages of Alaska. Its diverse racial and cultural populations include Hispanics, African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and White Americans.
The region is home to growing numbers of immigrants. These groups have been identified in Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General as carrying a much greater disease burden and receiving fewer health care services than other parts of the U.S. population. This research center was created with the exclusive intent to address the unique oral health problems of this diverse and expansive region.