窮人和富人的差距在于八顆牙

The poorest people in the UK have up to eight fewer teeth than the richest people by the time they are 70, according to the results of a study released in the Journal of Dental Health today.

根據(jù)《口腔健康》雜志發(fā)布的一項最新研究，到70歲的時候，最窮的人比最富有的人少8顆牙齒。

The study, carried out by researchers at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust, UCL and the National Centre of Social Research was aimed at showing the link between socioeconomic status and oral health。

這項研究室由英國紐卡斯?fàn)柎髮W(xué)、紐卡斯?fàn)朜HS信托基金會、倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院和英國國家社會研究中心開展，旨在告訴大家社會經(jīng)濟狀況和口腔健康之間的聯(lián)系。

More than 6,000 people aged 21 and over from all income groups and regions of the UK were involved in the study, which found that dental health was substantially worse among the poorest 20% of society compared with the richest. Those with lower incomes, lower occupational class, higher deprivation and lower educational attainment were shown to generally have the worst clinical outcomes, including more tooth decay, gum disease and tooth gaps。

6000多名來自各收入群體和英國各地區(qū)的21歲以上的人參與了這項研究。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)其中發(fā)現(xiàn)社會中20%的最貧困人口的牙齒健康狀況比最富有人群差的多。那些收入較低，職業(yè)階層較低，較貧困和受教育程度較低的群體臨床結(jié)果一般都不容樂觀，包括更多的蛀牙，牙齦疾病和牙齒間有間隙。

The study also found that for those over 65 years old, the least wealthy had an average of eight fewer teeth than those from the richest echelons of society。

研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，65歲以上、來自最貧窮階層的人比最富有階層平均少八顆牙齒。

According to John Wildman, professor of health economics at Newcastle University Business School, the principal investigator on the ESRC study, the results of the study are important because oral health is a significant component of general health and wellbeing. “Oral health contributes hugely to everyday wellbeing and addressing these inequalities may result in considerable improvements in quality of life for large numbers of individuals,” he said.

John Wildman是紐卡斯?fàn)柎髮W(xué)商學(xué)院[微博]衛(wèi)生經(jīng)濟學(xué)教授，也是經(jīng)濟與社會研究委員會的項目負責(zé)人。他表示，這項研究結(jié)果意義重大，因為口腔健康是全身健康和幸福的重要組成部分。“口腔健康大大有助于每天的幸福，解決這些不平等現(xiàn)象會大幅度提高相當(dāng)多一部分人的生活質(zhì)量。”

Professor Jimmy Steele CBE, head of the dental school at Newcastle University, and lead author said: “It’s probably not a big surprise that poorer people have worse dental health than the richest, but the surprise is just how big the differences can be and how it affects people。”

紐卡斯?fàn)柎髮W(xué)口腔學(xué)院院長以及文章的第一作者Jimmy Steele爵士：“窮人的口腔健康比富人更糟糕可能并不奇怪，但出人意料的是差距這么大，影響這么大。”

Whilst Steele admits it is difficult to identify which specific factors are driving each of the differences seen in the study, he says that “there is probably a mix of reasons and it is not just about, for example, the availability of treatment”。

雖然Steele承認難以確定是哪些特定因素造成研究中的這些差異，但是他說：“原因可能有很多，不只是治療的有效性。”

According to Dr Georgios Tsakos, senior lecturer at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL, one of the most important things revealed from the study was the link between educational attainment and perceptions about oral health and quality of life. “This has profound implications for policy as intervening in earlier life could have a significant long term effect on oral health,” she said。

倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院流行病和公共衛(wèi)生系高級講師Georgios Tsakos博士表示，這項研究最重要的發(fā)現(xiàn)是受教育程度和對口腔健康和生活質(zhì)量的認知之間的聯(lián)系。 “這對政策制定具有深刻啟示，因為早期干預(yù)對口腔健康有顯著的深遠影響。”

Despite the social differences, the results revealed that on average oral health is improving, especially among young British adults. However, an earlier study published by the same research team had found that social division between rich and poor young people are even more pronounced than in older people。

除了社會差異，研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，英國人，尤其是年輕人的口腔健康狀況正在好轉(zhuǎn)。然而，這個研究小組之前的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，貧富年輕人之間的社會分化甚至比老年人更為明顯。

Steel said: “Although the younger generation have much better oral health than their parents ever did, the differences between rich and poor are very considerable and young people are particularly aware when they do not have a healthy mouth. The risk is that as health gets better overall the differences just get greater and poorer people lose out。”

Steel表示：“雖然年輕一代的口腔健康狀況比他們的父母更好，但貧富之間的差異相當(dāng)大。如果牙齒不健康，年輕人會特別注意。風(fēng)險在于總體健康狀況在好轉(zhuǎn)，但貧富差距越來越大，吃虧的是窮人。”