Abstract
This article aims to comprehend meaning assigned to oral health, by means of older adults discourses, supported by a Social Constructionist perspective. This is a qualitative study with a descriptive and comprehensive design based on the Social Constructionism theoretical support conducted by means of interviews with 19 older adults. Data were analysed by means of a Discourse Analysis with identification of Interpretative Repertoires, which structured the meanings proposed to oral health. It were created repertories to disclosure possible meanings assigned to the oral health by older people as: having a clean mouth; having good comprehensive/general health; having a beautiful smile and oral health well-being condition; and suffering in the past and accepting pain. The meaning assigned to oral health by older people, in a social constructionist perspective, allow us to comprehend the subjectivity behind oral health of older people, which can guide health professionals' approaches to deal with it.
Highlights
The increase in older people population is a major challenge for global public dental health and community dental health services
This is a qualitative study with a descriptive and comprehensive design based on the Social Constructionism theoretical support conducted by means of interviews with 19 older adults
The meaning assigned to oral health by older people, in a social constructionist perspective, allow us to comprehend the subjectivity behind oral health of older people, which can guide health professionals’ approaches to deal with it
Summary
The increase in older people population is a major challenge for global public dental health and community dental health services. Comprehension of subjectivities behind the older adult oral health is a challenge for health researchers worldwide, which includes dentists from the Brazilian Unified System (Portuguese Acronym is SUS) This Brazilian public health system is based on national policies which offer a comprehensive assistance to older people including dental treatment and oral health care. Dental literacy and oral health beliefs are socially constructed and reconstructed during their lives, by means of social interactions expressed in their speeches. It means that oral health can be comprehended as a social creation portraited in older people narratives. We comprehend oral health as a social phenomenon
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