Abstract
Objectives: This study examines household firearm ownership and secure storage practices among individuals who recently visited a dental clinic, highlighting the potential role of dental settings in firearm injury prevention.
Methods: Data were from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) across five states—California, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, and Ohio—that administered the state-optional Firearm Safety module. The sample was restricted to adults who had visited a dentist within the past five years (N = 33,036). We estimated firearm ownership and storage patterns by recency of the last dental visit. Chi-square tests were used to assess differences in household firearm ownership and firearm secure storage by time since the last dental care visit.
Results: Household firearm ownership was reported by 28.8% of individuals with a past-year dental visit, 24.3% of those with a visit in the past two years, and 25.4% of those with a visit in the past five years (χ² = 54.37, p = .001). Among firearm-owning households, 70.9% of those with a past-year visit stored all firearms unloaded, while 14.7% stored at least one firearm loaded and locked, and 14.4% stored at least one firearm loaded and unlocked. Firearm storage practices did not significantly differ by dental visit recency (χ² = 23.36, p = .304).
Conclusions: Nearly one-third of dental patients reside in firearm-owning households, with approximately one in seven storing firearms loaded and unlocked. The findings indicate that dental clinics may represent an overlooked setting for firearm secure storage counseling.
Creative Commons License
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Recommended Citation
Testa, Alexander and Mungia, Rahma (2026) "Assessing Firearm Ownership and Storage Among Recent Dental Care Users in the United States," Health Behavior Research: Vol. 9: No. 1.
