Oral diseases are among the most prevalent diseases globally and have serious health and economic burdens, depriving people of health, wellbeing, and the ability to achieve their full potential. By virtue of their high prevalence, the most consequential oral diseases affecting global health are: dental caries, periodontal disease, tooth loss, and cancers of the lips and oral cavity. In this first of two papers, we describe the scope of the global oral disease epidemic, describe its origins in social and commercial determinants, and its costs in terms of human suffering and societal impact. Even though oral diseases are largely preventable, they persist with high prevalence as a reflection of pervasive social and economic inequalities, along with inadequate funding for prevention and treatment, particularly in low and middleincome countries (LMIC). As with most non-communicable diseases (NCDs), oral conditions are chronic and strongly socially patterned. Poor children, socially marginalised groups, and older people suffer the most from oral diseases and have more limited access to dental care. In many LMIC oral diseases remain largely untreated as the treatment costs exceed available resources. The personal consequences of chronic untreated oral diseases are often severe and include unremitting pain, sepsis, reduced quality of life, lost school days, family disruption, and decreased work productivity. The societal costs of treating oral diseases are a very high economic burden to families and the health care system. Oral diseases are truly a global public health problem with particular concern over rising prevalence in many LMIC linked to wider social, economic and commercial changes. By describing the extent and consequences of oral diseases, their roots in social and commercial determinants, and their ongoing neglect in global health policy, we aim to highlight the urgency of addressing oral diseases as a global health and NCD priority. 4 Key messages Oral health is an integral element of overall health and wellbeing enabling individuals to perform essential daily functions. Oral diseases include a range of chronic clinical conditions that affect the teeth and mouth including dental caries (tooth decay), periodontal (gum) disease and oral cancers. Despite being largely preventable, oral diseases are highly prevalent conditions affecting over 3.5 billion people around the world, with dental caries being the most common disease globally with increasing prevalence in many low and middle-income countries (LMIC) Oral diseases disproportionally affect poorer and marginalised groups in society being very closely linked to socioeconomic status and the broader social determinants of health. Oral diseases have a significant impact causing pain, sepsis, reduced quality of life, lost school days, family disruption, decreased work productivity, and the costs of dental treatment can be considerable for both individuals, and the wider health care system. Oral conditions share common risks with other non-communicabl...
75Oral diseases are a major global public health problem affecting over 3.5 billion people. 76Dentistry however has failed to tackle this problem. A fundamentally different approach is 77 now needed. In this second paper on oral health, we present a critique of dentistry 78 highlighting its key limitations and the urgent need for system reform. In high-income 79 countries (HIC) the current treatment-dominated, increasingly high-tech, interventionist and 80 specialised approach, is failing to tackle the underlying causes of disease and is not 81 addressing oral health inequalities. In low-and middle-income countries (LMIC) the 82 limitations of "westernised" dentistry are most acutedentistry is often unavailable, 83 unaffordable and inappropriate to the majority of these populations, but particularly the rural 84 poor. Rather than being isolated and separated from the mainstream health care system, 85 dentistry needs to be more integrated with primary care services in particular. The global 86 drive for universal health coverage (UHC) provides an ideal opportunity for this. Dental care 87 systems should focus more on promoting and maintaining oral health and achieving greater 88 oral health equity, rather than the interventionist treatment approach that currently dominates. 89Sugar, alcohol and tobacco use and their driving social and commercial determinants are the 90 underlying causes of oral diseases, common risks shared with a range of other non-91 communicable diseases (NCDs). Coherent and comprehensive regulation and legislation is 92 needed to tackle these shared risk factors. In this paper we focus on the need to reduce sugars 93 consumption through the adoption of a range of upstream policies designed to combat the 94 corporate strategies used by the global sugar industry to promote sugar consumption and 95 profits. At present the sugar industry is influencing dental research, oral health policy and 96 professional organisations through its well-developed corporate strategies. There is a pressing 97 need to develop clearer and more transparent conflict of interest policies and procedures to 98 limit and clarify the influence of the sugar industry on research, policy and practice. 99
Together with other social categories, race has been at the core of much scholarly work in the area of humanities and social sciences, as well as a host of applied disciplines. In dentistry, debates have ranged from the use of race as a criterion for the recommendation of specific dental procedures to a means of assessing inequalities in a variety of outcomes. What is missing in these previous discussions, though, is a broader understanding of race that transcends relations with genetic makeup and other individual-level characteristics. In this review, we provide readers with a critique of the existing knowledge on race and oral health by answering the following 3 guiding questions: (1) What concepts and ideas are connected with race in the field of dentistry? (2) What can be learned and what is absent from the existing literature on the topic? (3) How can we enhance research and policy on racial inequalities in oral health? Taken together, the reviewed studies rely either on biological distinctions between racial categories or on other individual characteristics that may underlie racial disparities in oral health. Amidst a range of individual-level factors, racial inequalities have often been attributed to lower socioeconomic status and "health-damaging" cultural traits, for instance, patterns of and reasons for dental visits, dietary habits, and oral hygiene behaviors. While this literature has been useful in documenting large and persistent racial gaps in oral health, wider sociohistorical processes, such as systemic racism, as well as their relationships with economic exploitation, social stigmatization, and political marginalization, have yet to be operationalized among studies on the topic. A nascent body of research has recently begun to address some of these factors, but limited attention to structural theories of racism means that many more studies are needed to effectively mitigate racial health differentials.
Fixed orthodontic treatment in Brazilian children resulted in significantly improved OHQoL after 2 years.
OBJECTIVE:To develop an instrument to assess discrimination effects on health outcomes and behaviors, capable of distinguishing harmful differential treatment effects from their interpretation as discriminatory events. METHODS:Successive versions of an instrument were developed based on a systematic review of instruments assessing racial discrimination, focus groups and review by a panel comprising seven experts. The instrument was refi ned using cognitive interviews and pilot-testing. The fi nal version of the instrument was administered to 424 undergraduate college students in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil, in 2010. Structural dimensionality, two types of reliability and construct validity were analyzed. RESULTS:Exploratory factor analysis corroborated the hypothesis of the instrument's unidimensionality, and seven experts verified its face and content validity. The internal consistency was 0.8, and test-retest reliability was higher than 0.5 for 14 out of 18 items. The overall score was higher among socially disadvantaged individuals and correlated with adverse health behaviors/conditions, particularly when differential treatments were attributed to discrimination. CONCLUSIONS:These fi ndings indicate the validity and reliability of the instrument developed. The proposed instrument enables the investigation of novel aspects of the relationship between discrimination and health. DESCRIPTORS:Prejudice. Interpersonal Relations. Socioeconomic Factors. Health Inequalities. Explicit discrimination and health Bastos JL et alThe discrimination construct is closely related to the idea of injustice and, as such, has been conceptualized as the "process by which a member, or members, of a socially defi ned group is, or are, treated differently (especially unfairly) because of his/ her/ their membership of that group." 15 It has been studied worldwide in several fi elds of knowledge, such as anthropology, epidemiology, sociology and psychology, with extensive literature documenting important discrimination effects on people's daily lives. For instance, discrimination has been associated with negative health outcomes, 25 diffi cult access to the labor market, 6 and residential segregation. 25 Disc riminatory practices may be based on characteristics such as gender, age, physical appearance, race, ethnicity, social class, and other socially ascribed or acquired characteristics. These multiple types of discrimination may also be combined and experienced all at once by their victims. 4 Yet, discriminatory practices and their behavioral and cognitive responses may vary depending on the social context and historical time period.A systematic review of instruments assessing racial discrimination 3 found no widely employed instrument RESUMO OBJETIVO: Desenvolver instrumento para avaliar os efeitos de experiências discriminatórias sobre condições e comportamentos em saúde, capaz de distinguir efeitos patológicos da exposição a tratamentos diferenciais de sua interpretação como eventos discriminatórios. MÉ...
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