Social determinants of health and their relation to oral

health
There are many factors that affect our oral health. Not just our habits but our
changing lifestyle has spread it influence on one’s oral health. Experiences in
the early years, education, working life, social habits, income, and
environmental conditions, lie outside the immediate reach of the health
system. Health professionals, however, have an important role to play in
tackling health disparities amongst their own patients and more widely in the
community and promoting health equity. Current understanding of the social
determinants indicates that significant improvements in health could be
achieved if medical, dental, and public health professionals address these
broader influences on health outcomes while maintaining excellence in
traditional disease control approaches.
 Oral diseases like dental caries, periodontal disease and oral cancer, 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 SDH as a backbone structure for the development of healthy enabling
environments. Unless these determinants are addressed, improving access to
dental care, will only alleviate but never substantially reduce, the burden of
dental diseases.
Addressing these determinants is key in reducing health disparities and
improving the health in people.
What are these determinants?
 Economic political and environmental condition
 Social and community
 Oral health related behaviors
 Individual influence
 Use of services
 Behaviors

Behavioral and social cultural condition.

 Lifestyle denotes the way people live reflecting a whole range of social
values attitudes and activities.  
 It is composed of cultural and behavioral patterns and lifelong personal
habits.
 Lifestyle are learned through social interactions with parents and peer,
groups, friends, siblings and through schools and mass media.
 Coronary Heart disease, obesity. lung cancers, drug addictions are all
associated with lifestyle.
 Tobacco consumption is a developing health issue associated with one’s
lifestyle and this has led to a raising concern in a large group of people.

Environment
 Environment is classified as internal and external.
 Internal environment offer man pertains to each and every component
part every tissue organ and organ system and their harmonious function
with the system.
 External or macro environment consists of those things to which man is
exposed after conception.
 It can be divided into physical biological and social psychosocial
components any or all of which affected and can affect the health of men
and is susceptible to illness.
 Other types of environments include occupational environment social
economic environment moral environment.

Social economic conditions

 The health of a person is primarily dependent upon the level of socio
economic development.
 Examples per capita income, GNP, education, nutrition, employment
housing and political systems of the country has affected the lifestyle of
many people which in turn affects health of an individual.

Health services
 Health services are seen as essential for social and economic
development
 There is a strong relation between GNP and expectations of life at birth
and the overall health status of the given problem.
 There are various programmes such as immunization programmes,
programmes for malaria, midday meal programmes, family welfare
programmes another non communicable disease programmes that aim
at prevention promotion and maintenance of the health status of the
population.

Other factors that determine full health could be

 Gender
 The ageing population
 Systems outside the formal healthcare system, health related sectors,
Food and Agriculture, education, industries, social welfare rule
development, adoption of policies, employment opportunities,
increasing wages.
Understanding the social determinants of health and structural inequality is a
key competency for all dental students to develop so they can provide socially
competent care, especially for patients from groups who shoulder the greatest
burden of disease due to their socioeconomic status and vulnerability within
society. To ensure that the dental profession remains ‘fit-for-purpose’ into the
21st Century, having an immutable voice in advocating for global reductions in
oral health disparities, dental curricula need to correct their focus;
incorporating the social determinants of health as a theme running through
every learning activity. Dental schools must ensure that students not only
understand how the social determinants of health impact the mouth and oral
wellbeing, but also develop a deep sense of social responsibility and capacity
to act towards their amelioration and management.