The objective of this study was to systematically evaluate gender differences in the prevalence of TMD. A systematic review was performed in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and LILACS in duplicate by two independent reviewers. The inclusion criteria were cross-sectional studies that reported the prevalence of TMD for men and women and that used the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) Axis I group diagnostic criteria:(group I = muscle disorders; group II = disc displacements; group III = arthralgias/arthritis/arthrosis).To be eligible for inclusion, studies must include adult individuals (>18 years) from a non-clinical population (ie without pre-diagnosis of TMD); in other words, from population-based studies. There were no restrictions on the year and language of publication. The quality of the articles was assessed by an adapted version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale(NOS), and the publication bias was assessed by a funnel plot graph. Data were quantitatively analysed by meta-analysis using odds ratio (OR) as the measure effect. The electronic search retrieved a total of 6104 articles, of which 112 articles were selected for full-text reading according to the eligibility criteria. By means of manual search, one study was retrieved. Five articles were selected for meta-analysis with a combined sample of 2518 subjects. Women had higher prevalence of TMD in all RDC/TMD diagnostic groups. The meta-analysis yielded the following results: (a) OR = 2.24 for global TMD (groups I, II and III combined), (b) OR = 2.09 for group I, (c) OR = 1.6 for group II and (d) OR = 2.08 for group III. The importance of gender in the development of TMD has been demonstrated, with a two times greater risk of women to develop it as compared to men.

Social capital may explain inequalities in rates of dental injury, especially among boys.

No abstract

Neighborhood empowerment may play an important role in explaining inequalities in the levels of dental caries. New perspectives are needed so that more effective interventions can be implemented using area-based perspectives.

Assessment and understanding of self-rated oral health should take into account social factors, subjective and clinical oral symptoms.

The single question on self-rated oral health appears to be a simple and easy way to collect dental health information in adolescents. Assessment and understanding of self-rated oral health should take into account social, psychosocial and oral factors.

No abstract

The authors examined the associations of shiftwork with overweight and abdominal obesity through a cross-sectional study of 1206 employees 18 to 50 yrs of age who were working on a production line in a poultry processing plant. Night-shift workers (n = 800) were considered exposed, whereas day shiftworkers (n = 406) were considered nonexposed. Overweight was defined as a body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m(2) and abdominal obesity as a waist circumference ≥ 88 cm in women and ≥ 102 cm in men. The mean age of the workers was 30.5 yrs (standard deviation = 8.7 yrs), and 65.2% were women. Nightshift workers compared to dayshift workers showed higher prevalences of overweight (42.2% vs. 34.3%; p= .020) and abdominal obesity (24.9% vs. 19.5%; p = .037). After adjusting for sociodemographics, parental overweight status, behavioral characteristics, and sleep characteristics, including hours of sleep, the prevalence ratios for overweight and abdominal obesity were 1.27 (95% confidence interval [ CI]: 1.00-1.61) and 1.45 (95% CI: 1.10-1.92), respectively, for the nightshift workers compared to the dayshift workers. A consistent finding in our study was the independent contribution of night shiftwork to overweight and abdominal obesity among Brazilian workers. Further studies are needed to understand the biological mechanisms involved and the complex behavioral and social adaptations experienced by night-shift workers.