Social Determinants and Oral Health: An Update

Abstract

This review presents the most recent studies and evidence on the social determinants of oral health. Oral disease is associated with an array of structural determinants (income, goods, and services). It is also associated with daily living conditions, and social gradients have been reported for dental caries, periodontal disease, oral cancer, and tooth loss. Current understanding of these interconnections have prompted the development of a new approach for oral health promotion, which recognizes that the behaviors accounting for the most important noncommunicable diseases contribute to oral diseases as well. Oral diseases and issues such as poor access to dental care and low oral health literacy levels are social, political, behavioral, and medical in nature. These conditions will only be controlled by the promotion of initiatives that prioritize the improvement in the social determinants of health as a backbone structure for the development of healthy enabling environments.