Indigenous Oral Health Inequalities at an International Level: A Commentary

Abstract

Oral health inequalities reflect social injustice. This is because oral health simultaneously reflects material circumstances, access to health services and inequities across the life course. Oral health inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations are among the largest in the world. This paper provides a critical commentary on Indigenous oral health inequalities at an international level based on existing literature and policies. We include the role of systematic and institutionalized racism and how this enables the persistence and flourishing of Indigenous oral health inequalities. We discuss theoretical frameworks—including Shiffman and Smith’s Political Power Framework—that underpin the power constructs that contribute to those. This theory posits that power is exercised in four ways: (i) the power of ideas; (ii) the power of the issue; (iii) the power of the actors; and (iv) the power of the political context. We will demonstrate, using examples of Indigenous oral health inequalities from several countries, how intervening at key leverage points, acting simultaneously on multiple subsystems and counteracting the social determinants of health are crucial strategies for ameliorating Indigenous oral health inequalities at a global level.