top of page
Tooth & Nail
"Use of oral health care services in the United States: unequal, inequitable—a cross-sectional study"
This study provides a nuanced statistical and conceptual evaluation of how dental care access in the United States is shaped by social...
Maiya Varma
May 293 min read
"Variation in Use of Dental Services by Children and Adults Enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP"
This KFF study offers a comprehensive, data-driven view into how structural inequality shapes access to oral health care for individuals...
Maiya Varma
Apr 203 min read
"Dental Caries and Preventive Dental Visits Among Children in the U.S.: The Impact of Race/Ethnicity and Immigration"
This national study by Luo et al. highlights how oral health disparities among U.S. children are structured not only by race and...
Maiya Varma
Mar 172 min read
“Oral health disparities: Racial, language and nativity effects”
This NHANES-based study offers a compelling case for viewing oral health not merely as an outcome of individual behavior, but as a...
Maiya Varma
Feb 162 min read
“Changes in Coverage and Access to Dental Care Five Years After the Medicaid Expansion.”
“Changes in Coverage and Access to Dental Care Five Years After the Medicaid Expansion.” This study provides a nuanced statistical and...
Maiya Varma
Jan 123 min read
“NIH Analysis Shows That Oral Health Has Improved Since 2000 but Major Inequities Remain”
The follow-up report from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, two decades after the U.S. Surgeon General's...
Maiya Varma
Dec 23, 20242 min read
“Oral health status and coverage of oral health care: A five-country comparison”
Anthropology compels us to explore how health systems not only reflect but also reproduce social values, structural inequalities, and...
Maiya Varma
Sep 10, 20243 min read
“Universal health coverage, oral health, equity and personal responsibility”
In the global movement toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the systematic exclusion of dental care offers a stark example of how...
Maiya Varma
Jul 9, 20243 min read
“Effects of a Medicaid dental coverage “cliff” on dental care access among low‐income Medicare beneficiaries”
In anthropology, we study the often invisible systems that shape everyday access to care, belonging, and well-being. One such system is...
Maiya Varma
Mar 28, 20242 min read
“The Association between Medicaid Adult Dental Coverage and Children’s Oral Health”
The article “The Association between Medicaid Adult Dental Coverage and Children’s Oral Health” explores how expanding dental benefits...
Maiya Varma
Jan 12, 20242 min read
Guatemuala Dental Mission Trip
From July 21-30, I was part of a dental mission trip in San Martín Guatemala to serve over 800 children who lacked adequate dental care....
Maiya Varma
Aug 2, 20232 min read
“Dental Health Diet and Social Status among Central African Foragers and Farmers.”
This study focuses on dental health, diet, and social status among different Central African populations, particularly pygmy...
Maiya Varma
Jun 25, 20232 min read
Rural vs Urban Communites
Living in a rural versus urban community has significant effects on a person's oral health and the resources that are available to them....
Maiya Varma
May 28, 20232 min read
Linguistics In Healthcare
Linguistics in healthcare play an important role between the relationship of the provider and patient. In many settings, language...
Maiya Varma
Apr 16, 20232 min read
White Teeth as a Social Prerogative
Without a doubt, white teeth have been associated with beauty, cleanliness, and perfection. In much of American culture, a person's smile...
Maiya Varma
Mar 19, 20232 min read
Migrant Farmworkers in Florida
Poverty, food insecurity, and limited access to dental care, work synergistically to exacerbate poor health conditions. The oral health...
Maiya Varma
Feb 19, 20232 min read
The Latino Oral Healthcare Paradox
Instead of projecting discriminatory labels on minority populations that create barriers to healthcare, we should instead focus on the...
Maiya Varma
Jan 15, 20232 min read
bottom of page