Curanderismo and the Oral Health Equity Gap: How Traditional Folk Healing Among Hispanic Americans May Deter Individuals from Seeking Dental Care
Faculty Mentor
Parker Shaw
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
5-7-2024 12:00 PM
End Date
5-7-2024 12:20 PM
Location
PAT 304
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Humanities
Abstract
There is a staggering oral health equity gap between Hispanic Americans and other ethnic groups in the United States. The external reasons have been well-researched, including barriers to accessing healthcare that result from structural economic and social inequalities. Less researched, however, are the internal reasons for such a significant disparity, i.e. cultural beliefs, attitudes, and practices within the Hispanic community that deter individuals from seeking professional care. One such practice is curanderismo or traditional folk medicine. While curanderismo has been researched extensively in the fields of anthropology and general medicine, its implications have seldom been applied to dentistry in the existing literature. This project seeks to address that need by intertwining previous studies done on curanderismo with relevant studies done in dentistry. Specifically, I will assert that, for many Hispanic Americans, curanderismo offers a more attractive alternative to Western dentistry in several ways: it reinforces traditional beliefs surrounding health ailments that may not be accurate, and it is part of a larger social structure within the Hispanic community that traditionally does not place importance on regular dental visits. Ignorance of these factors may keep the equity gap from closing in dentistry. I will also discuss solutions that may be implemented to address this inequity.
Recommended Citation
Avery, Isabella Sophia, "Curanderismo and the Oral Health Equity Gap: How Traditional Folk Healing Among Hispanic Americans May Deter Individuals from Seeking Dental Care" (2024). 2024 Symposium. 8.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2024/op_2024/o1_2024/8
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Curanderismo and the Oral Health Equity Gap: How Traditional Folk Healing Among Hispanic Americans May Deter Individuals from Seeking Dental Care
PAT 304
There is a staggering oral health equity gap between Hispanic Americans and other ethnic groups in the United States. The external reasons have been well-researched, including barriers to accessing healthcare that result from structural economic and social inequalities. Less researched, however, are the internal reasons for such a significant disparity, i.e. cultural beliefs, attitudes, and practices within the Hispanic community that deter individuals from seeking professional care. One such practice is curanderismo or traditional folk medicine. While curanderismo has been researched extensively in the fields of anthropology and general medicine, its implications have seldom been applied to dentistry in the existing literature. This project seeks to address that need by intertwining previous studies done on curanderismo with relevant studies done in dentistry. Specifically, I will assert that, for many Hispanic Americans, curanderismo offers a more attractive alternative to Western dentistry in several ways: it reinforces traditional beliefs surrounding health ailments that may not be accurate, and it is part of a larger social structure within the Hispanic community that traditionally does not place importance on regular dental visits. Ignorance of these factors may keep the equity gap from closing in dentistry. I will also discuss solutions that may be implemented to address this inequity.
