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Journal ArticleDOI

From victim blaming to upstream action: tackling the social determinants of oral health inequalities

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TLDR
A conceptual shift is needed away from this biomedical/behavioural 'downstream' approach, to one addressing the 'upstream' underlying social determinants of population oral health.
Abstract
The persistent and universal nature of oral health inequalities presents a significant challenge to oral health policy makers. Inequalities in oral health mirror those in general health. The universal social gradient in both general and oral health highlights the underlying influence of psychosocial, economic, environmental and political determinants. The dominant preventive approach in dentistry, i.e. narrowly focusing on changing the behaviours of high-risk individuals, has failed to effectively reduce oral health inequalities, and may indeed have increased the oral health equity gap. A conceptual shift is needed away from this biomedical/behavioural 'downstream' approach, to one addressing the 'upstream' underlying social determinants of population oral health. Failure to change our preventive approach is a dereliction of ethical and scientific integrity. A range of complementary public health actions may be implemented at local, national and international levels to promote sustainable oral health improvements and reduce inequalities. The aim of this article is to stimulate discussion and debate on the future development of oral health improvement strategies.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Postponed Dental Appointments Due to Costs Are Associated with Increased Loneliness-Evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed data from two waves (waves 5 and 6) of the survey of Health Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to determine whether postponed dental appointments due to costs affect loneliness longitudinally.

Social determinants of dental treatment needs in

TL;DR: Dental treatment needs related to primary care (restoration and tooth extraction) and secondary care (prosthesis) were strongly associated with individual socioeconomic position, mainly income and education, in Brazilian adults, and have important implications for the health policy.
Dissertation

A mixed methods study of parental and family factors associated with children's home toothbrushing frequency

TL;DR: The wider social, environmental and cognitive factors that influence parents’ decisions about brushing children’s teeth are understood to inform future advice and interventions, and suggest novel theoretical frameworks for developing future behaviour change interventions.
Journal ArticleDOI

An evidence-based oral health promotion programme: Lessons from Leicester.

TL;DR: The successful implementation of a local oral health improvement programme in Leicester has required leadership to coordinate a multiagency partnership approach to embedding effective concepts and realising opportunities collaboratively.
Journal ArticleDOI

Política pública nacional de salud bucodental del Paraguay 2009-2018

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the process of development and implementation of the National Public Policy of Oral Health of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare of Paraguay (MPHSW) 2009-2018.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Social determinants of health inequalities

TL;DR: A Commission on Social Determinants of Health is launching, which will review the evidence, raise societal debate, and recommend policies with the goal of improving health of the world's most vulnerable people.
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Health inequalities among British civil servants: the Whitehall II study

TL;DR: There was an inverse association between employment grade and prevalence of angina, electrocardiogram evidence of ischaemia, and symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and self-perceived health status and symptoms were worse in subjects in lower status jobs.
Journal ArticleDOI

The World Oral Health Report 2003: continuous improvement of oral health in the 21st century – the approach of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme

TL;DR: The current oral health situation and development trends at global level are described and WHO strategies and approaches for better oral health in the 21st century are outlined.
Journal ArticleDOI

Socioeconomic status and health: what we know and what we don't.

TL;DR: This paper examines the data regarding the SES‐health gradient, addressing causal direction, generalizability across populations and diseases, and associations with health for different indicators of SES.
Journal ArticleDOI

Predicting and Explaining Intentions and Behavior: How Well Are We Doing?

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate the performance of these models in predicting and explaining intentions and behavior, and discuss the distinction between prediction and explanation, the different standards of comparison against which predictive performance can be judged, and the use of percentage of variance explained as a measure of effect size.
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