Gun research is a sorry, pathetic field these days, to say the least. Most of it is absolute garbage, of course, but you'd think that with us pointing it out, they'd try to do a little better research to counter it.

They're not.

We're still getting the studies saying children are killed by guns more than anything else, though they count adults as children just to make their point. That should be the height of their stupidity, but it's not.

Now, it seems that so-called gun violence leads to bad teeth.

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For decades, the effects of gun violence exposure on overall physical health has largely been overlooked, but a new study shows a startling link: In communities with the highest rates of gun violence, residents are less likely to receive dental care.

“This is the first paper to really look at the connections between dental health and violence exposure, and what we’re beginning to see with this work is the deep connections between gun violence and overall health,” said Daniel Semenza, the study’s lead author and the director of research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, where the study was conducted.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in April, is the first of its kind to examine the connection between oral health and firearm exposure. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its authors analyzed more than 20,000 census tracts within the 100 largest cities in the United States from 2014 to 2022. They found that a 1 point increase in shootings led to a 0.06 percent increase in edentulism, or dental loss. The researchers found that factors like a pervasive sense of fear, chronic stress, and social and economic disruption brought on by firearm violence could potentially contribute to adverse health behaviors, poor oral health, and affect access to dental care.

The research expands on scholarship that has tied higher levels of gun violence in communities to higher rates of diabetes and food insecurity. The cumulative health risks associated with firearm violence are an area of focus for the New Jersey center, whose recent work has examined how gun violence exposure affects residents’ overall well-being, increasing their risk for suicide, depression, and the use of mental health services. The center, housed at Rutgers University, is one of the leading hubs for gun violence research. It is at risk of steep budget cuts as funding for gun violence prevention has come under threat at both the state and federal levels.

Congratulations, you're getting closer to establishing a link between violent crime and poverty.

Brilliant.

Absolutely brilliant.

The higher rates of diabetes are often because poorer communities rely more on processed, low-cost foods rather than fresh, whole foods. Food insecurity factors into that, too, as these are folks most likely to have a bare pantry the days before money comes into the house.

And the lack of good dental health is also due to poverty.

Now, let's consider that communities where there is already a high-level of stress because of poverty may take more issue with personal slights, might be more open to criminal enterprises as a way to make money without losing any federal benefits, and might just generally make poor decisions as a general thing, and you get a recipe for violent crime.

This "connection," though, doesn't really exist. It's a correlation, which doesn't necessarily mean a causation. It just means these two things tend to coincide.

Yes, that happens when there is causation, but it can also have no relationship at all. In this case, I think what we're seeing is that both of these arise from a central cause. In this case, poverty.

Not every poor person is going to be violent, and many impoverished communities are as peaceful as they come. But most of those that aren't peaceful also tend to be very poor, and that's just how it's going to shake out every time.

And let's be real here. If gun violence were related to poor dental health, then the UK should be the most violent country on the planet.