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Delgado-Angulo EK, Bernabé E et al. J Clin Periodontol 2016;43: 926–933

Although clear differences in oral health among ethnic groups have been shown in North America, Europe and Australasia, this relationship is far from clear in the UK. In this cross-sectional study that selected randomly 1,925 adults recruited to the East London Oral Health Inequality Study, oral health, ethnicity and socio-demographic factors were determined. The outcome measures for this study were the number of teeth with periodontal pocket depth ≥4 mm and loss of attachment ≥4 mm. The response rate was 57%; a non-respondent household was replaced by a household in the same postcode area. There were considerable ethnic disparities in periodontal disease that could not be explained by socioeconomic factors but were moderated by education; 'Stratified analysis by education groups showed that ethnic disparities in the two periodontal measures were limited to more educated groups.' But such may merely reflect the strong effect that deprivation has in neutralising 'any advantage White British may have over other ethnic groups among less educated people.'