Abstract
As the reported data on oral health status among the migrants in Europe is fragmented, we systematically reviewed the published literature on the oral health status, behaviours and care utilisation among migrants residing in Europe. For this, we retrieved publications from PubMed and EMBASE, supplemented by manual citation screening and grey literature search on Google scholars. Two independent reviewers screened the studies, extracted data and critically appraised the publications. A total of 69 studies included showed higher dental caries among migrant children. But some studies on adolescents and adults reported similar or even better oral health among migrants compared to the host population, while other reported the opposite. Poor oral health behaviours were generally reported among the migrants and they frequently made use of emergency service utilisation compared to the host population. We shed light on the gaps in dental literature and make some recommendations for the future.
Highlights
The last few decades have seen the consolidation and expansion of free movement in the European Union (EU) regime
We included all the studies that referred to migrants using various terminologies such as minority groups, ethnic groups, immigrants, Black and minority ethnic groups (BME), the studies referring to only one ethnic group such as South Asians, African Caribbean’s, Chinese, Turkish, Moroccan or Eastern Europeans
We restricted this review to studies published from the year 2000 onwards to ensure that oral health status of current European migrant groups could be assessed with little possibility of generational comparisons among migrants
Summary
The last few decades have seen the consolidation and expansion of free movement in the European Union (EU) regime. This has generated a migratory movement of people from both within and across the globe, many of whom are highly skilled and actively contributing to the economic and labour market of Europe. With approximately 22.3 million migrants residing within the EU, they are increasingly becoming a part of the European society [2]. The migration phenomenon itself is not without challenges. Economic and emotional uprooting can negatively influence the quality of life of migrants, which can be detrimental to their health, including their oral health [3]. Implications of poor oral health among migrants are steadily gaining recognition as an important issue in research and policy making [4]
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