SOCIAL SCIENCES

IN DENTISTRY

Dr. S. Prabhu
Department ofDr. S. Prabhu
Public Health Dentistry
Department of Public Health Dentistry
 INRODUCTION

 SOCIAL SCIENCE & ITS DIVISIONS

 Sociology

 Psychology

 Anthropology

 CONCLUSION

 REFERENCES
 INRODUCTION
• The social sciences are a group of
academic disciplines that study human
aspects of the world.
 SOCIAL SCIENCE
• Sociology
• Social or Cultural Anthropology Behavioral sciences

• Psychology
• Economics
• Political Sciences
 Behavioural Sciences

• Behavioural Science is the science of the

study of human behaviour at the level of
their own self, other individuals, family and
community members,
• and the resulting reaction on the dental
health programme.
 Scope and Uses
• Identification of positive and negative
behaviour of the patient
• Planning for behaviour changes of the
patient
• Understanding and managing individual
behaviour pattern of health team members
 SOCIOLOGY
• Sociology (from Latin: socius, meaning
society and the Greek logos meaning science,
is an academic and applied discipline that
studies society and human social interaction.
• Society may be defined as an organization of
member agents having social relations
amongst themselves
 ASPECTS OF SOCIOLOGY

1) STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF SOCIETY

Social institutions
Community
Society Associations
2) FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS OF SOCIETY
Community
A) Social norms
Customs a) Folkways
Culture b) Mores
Acculturation etc, c) Laws
B) Customs & habits
C) Etiquettes & convention
D) Social values
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
• It is a social structure and machinery through which
human society organizes, directs and executes the
multifarious activities require to satisfy human needs.
E.g.: school, hospital, parliament

COMMUNITY
• It is defined as the group, small or large, living
together in such a way that the members share not
one or more specific interest but rather the basic
conditions of a common life.
 ASSOCIATIONS
• They are group of people united for a
specific purpose or a limited number of
purposes and are based on utilitarian
interest.
• Eg. IDA, IAPHD
 FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS OF
SOCIETY
A. Social Norms
1.Folkways
They refer customary ways of
behavior. People conform to these
ways not out of fear of being
penalized, but because it is obligatory
in the proper situation.
E.g.; ways of eating, dressing etc.
2. Mores
- The word is the plural of the Latin mor-,
mos, which means 'custom'.
- They are socially accepted ways of
behavior that involve moral standards.
- Taboos are specific types of mores
expressed in negative.
E.g.; in Hindu abstinence from beef
in Muslim abstinence from pork
in Sikhs abstinence from smoking
3. Laws
Some important mores are converted
into law in order to ensure
implementation
 CUTOMS
• Customs is a broad term embracing all
the norms classified as folkways or
norms.
• It refers to practices that have been
repeated by a number generations,
practices that tend to be followed
simply because they have been followed
in the past.
• Customs have a traditional, automatic,
mass character.
 HABITS
Habit is a purely personal affair, not
entailing any obligation.
E.g.; smoking a cigarette after meals,
Bathing daily etc.
ETIQUETTES AND CONVENTIONS

• Etiquettes are concerned with choice of

proper form for doing something in relation to
other people.
• Convention is the practice promoted by
convenience of the society or the individual.
• The starting point of all customs is
convention. When a procedure is adopted and
repeated time again it may become a rule.
 SOCIAL VALUES
• They constitute an important part of
the selective behavior of man.
 SOCIAL ORGANISATION
• The Family
• Religion and Caste
• Temporary Social Groups
• Crowd, Mob
• Permanent Spatial Groups
 The Band
 The village
 The town & cities
 The state
• Government and Political
Organization
 1.FAMILY
Phases of family Events characterizing
cycle
No. Description Beginning of Phase End Phase
I. Formation Marriage Birth of 1st Child
II. Extension Birth of 1st Child Birth of last child
III. Complete Birth of last child 1st child leaves home
Extension
IV. Contraction 1st child leaves home Last child leaves
home of parents

V. Completed Last child has left 1st spouse dies

Contraction home of parents
VI. Dissolution 1st spouse dies Death of survivor
 TYPES OF FAMILIES

• NUCLEAR FAMILY

• JOINT FAMILY

• THREE GENERATION
FAMILY
 FUNCTIONS OF FAMILY
1. Residence
2. Division of labour
3. Reproduction & bringing up of children
4. Socialization
5. Economic functions
6. Social care
FAMILY IN HEALTH & DISEASE
1. Child rearing
2. Socialization
3. Personality formation
4. Care of dependent adults
a) Care of sick & injured
b) Care of women in
pregnancy & child birth
c) Care of the aged and
handicapped
5. Stabilization of adult
personality
6. Familial susceptibility to disease
7. Broken family
8. Problem families
 THE COMMUNITY

1. Structure of society
a) Caste
b) Income
c) Occupation
2. Rural societies
3. Urban societies
4. Social mobility
 SOCIAL CLASS

Occupational classification

I Professional occupation

II Intermediate occupation

III N Non manual skilled occupation

IIIM Manual skilled occupation

IV Partly skilled occupation

V Unskilled occupation
Socio-economic status scale
 ATTITUDE OF DIFFERENT SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS PEOPLE TO ORAL DISEASE

UPPER MIDDLE CLASS

• Professional, business and executive group living in
preferred areas and well-maintained homes. They seek
out expert advice and in areas where they feel it is
important, follow the advice with considerable
reliogiosity.

• They value their teeth, are interested in preventive

dentistry and actively pursue various types of dental
care.
• The dentist is visualized as a professional who not
only repairs teeth but also prevents decay and loss
of teeth and makes person teeth more attractive and
useful. The members have the desire to have their own
teeth for as long as possible.

LOWER MIDDLE CLASS

• Owners of small business, minor executives, teachers,
salesman and white – collar workers.
• The dentist is regarded as an authority who fixes
teeth. They are the most compulsive in their dental
care attitudes
• Gives directions as to how teeth should be cared for and
who is useful for preventive dentistry. Dental health
habits are began early and followed with persistence.

UPPER LOWER CLASS

• Skilled and semi skilled blue collar workers. They are
people of limited education; they are law abiding
respectable, hard working citizens.

• They are resigned to whatever happens and feel there is

little they can do to stance off the inevitable,
including the loss of their teeth
 
• They receive artificial dentures at a relatively
early age and are happy with them Self-medications
based on popular notions interests them.

• They instruct their children how to care for their

teeth, but the children are more or less on their own
after that.

• They are happy receiving care from a clinic than from

individual practioner. They acquire confidence in the
reputation of the clinic because they see their
friends there. This can be called as “clinic habit”.
LOWER CLASS

• It consists of unskilled labourers, people who quit

from job to job, have limited education, live in

slum areas and exhibit no stable pattern of life.

• They reveal the most consistent neglect of teeth and

they require careful understanding if they are to

receive adequate care in public health facilities

 Castration Complex

• Contradiction of common sense

• Coming in crowds
• The last ditch effect
• If it hurts, you are a quack
• Unclean or dirty feeling
• The clinic was built there, not here
• Cold professional attitudes

• Difference in pain threshold

• Complication of the unknown
• The pill’s don’t work

• Appointments are not important

• Teeth lost anyhow

• Traditions
FACTORS INVOLVED IN SOCIAL CLASS
DIFFERENCES IN HEALTH & DISEASE

 Physical environment
 Differences in
services provided
 Material resources
 Genetic endowment
 Educational status
 Attitude to disease
 Psychology
• ‘Study of human behaviour’
 Psychological factors affecting
Behaviour
• Age & Gender • Skills and habits
• Intelligence & • Beliefs and culture
Emotion • Behaviour during
• Past Experience illness
• Present Environment • Decision making
• Coping • Expectation of others
• Attitude • Emotional level
 Anthropology
• Anthropology is the science of studying
man in terms of his/her physical, social,
cultural characteristics.
• Divisions of Anthropology
Physical
Social
Cultural
Archaeology
 REFERENCES
 Text Book of Preventive & Social Medicine By
Piyush Gupta & O.P. Ghai; 2nd Edition
 Park’s Text Book of Preventive & Social
Medicine By K.Park; 18th Edition
 Essentials of Preventive and Community
Dentistry By Soben Peter; 3rd Edition
 Text Book of Preventive & community
Dentistry By S.S. Hiremath; 1st Edition
 A Short Text Book of Preventive & community
Dentistry By Jayaprakash.K;1st Edition