Oral cancer refers to that which forms in tissues of the oral cavity (the mouth) or the oropharynx (the part of the throat at the back of the mouth). Risk factors include tobacco use, heavy alcohol use, and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
Introduction
Predominantly, socioeconomic inequalities in oral health can be defined as the differences in the prevalence or incidence of oral health problems between individual people of higher and lower socio-economic status (SES). Therefore, the incidence and prevalence of oral disease have proven to decrease when SES increases, maintaining an inverse relationship.
A Vicious Cycle
Since poverty is the chief determinant of malnutrition in developing countries, it develops into an intergenerational transfer of poor nutritional status and prevents social improvement, creating a vicious cycle. The determinants of oral disease are often linked to social and biomedical factors. Individuals with decreased SES experience financial, social, and material disadvantages which would compromise their self-care abilities. Thus all these lead to poor health outcomes.
Spreading Awareness
Lack of or insufficient knowledge of oral cancer has been suggested as an effective factor in late diagnosis. This is a crucial issue in the prevention of oral cancer as people do not know which harmful behaviors and exposures may cause oral cancer. Awareness is the primary step toward changing attitudes and performance in this regard. This lack of information may lead to late diagnosis, affecting survival rates. The inadequate amount of public awareness of oral cancer has been reported by various researchers from different countries, which reveals the need for education all around the world.
Conclusion
Research studies have found that race, income, immigration, and health insurance status were statistically significant links to oral cancer awareness and screening.
This is mainly due to reasons like those in the lower economic strata receiving lesser exposure to counsel regarding such diseases. It is no surprise that cancer is an expensive illness to manage. Besides screening for early detection, diagnostics and treatment, it involves post treatment care and rehabilitation. These are just some of the problems low SES groups need to battle while also facing other issues like discrimination, unstable economic conditions, prejudiced staff, stereotypes, misdiagnoses, late detection, and overall greater risks in treatment, all leading to significantly poorer outcomes.
In other words, higher SES individuals are more likely to be aware of and screened for oral cancer. This is problematic because oral cancers are more prevalent in low SES groups. Therefore, future awareness and screening campaigns should be directed at vulnerable low-SES populations.
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