Re: question about teeth and dentistry

I think that you are going to find that race is a terrible predictor of dental health. In the United States and presumably in most of the world researchers have found that an individual's dental health status has much more to do with their socioeconomic status and to a much lesser degree their diet. This phenomenon has everything to do with a patients ability and willingness to access dental care. It is unfortunate that the your acquaintances have drawn the conclusion that "black people always have good teeth" based on what seems to be only anecdotal information. I tried and didn't have any luck finding an article that supported their claim, I think that you will find that the claim is in fact unfounded. I found one article that may help to explain the incidence among socioeconomic classes. It was in vol. 129 of the Journal of the American Dental Association. Here is the abstract:

Demographic and socioeconomic Predictors of dental care utilization

Richard J. Manski, D.D.S., M.B.A., Ph.D.; Laurence S. Magder, M.P.H., Ph.D.

The authors analyzed a comprehensive, nationally representative data set from the 1989 National Health Interview Survey to determine what factors are related to dental care utilization. The authors estimated the percentage of low-income and minority adults who reported visiting a dentist in the past year by race, income, employment status, dental insurance coverage status, sex, health status, education, marital status, age and major activity. Data analyses focused on 49,687 18- to 64-year-old dentate respondents, who were black, Hispanic or white. The authors found large differences in dental care utilization between blacks, Hispanics and whites, when controlling for education, income, age and other variables.

For the complete article, see the February issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association.

I hope that this helps to answer your question or to at least point you in the right direction. You can find more information at the ADA webpage at www.ada.org or feel free to contact me if I can be of any service. Good luck.