Deprivation and oral health: a review

The link between socioeconomic status and health, including oral health, is well Established. The conventional measures of socioeconomic status used i n these studies, such as social class and household income, have a number o f weaknesses so that alternatives, in the form of area-based measures of de privation, are increasingly being used. This paper reviews epidemiological research linking deprivation and oral health. Four types of study are ident ified and described: simple descriptive, comparative, analytic and explanat ory. These studies confirm that deprivation indices are sensitive to variat ions in oral health and oral health behaviours and can be used to identify small areas with high levels of need for dental treatment and oral health p romotion services. As such, they are likely to provide a useful administrat ive tool. In terms of research, the studies demonstrate that these measures provide a ready way of controlling for socioeconomic status in studies exa mining the association between oral health and other variables. However, th is research, in largely replicating previous studies using social class, do es not address fundamental issues concerning the mechanisms which link soci al inequality and health. Deprivation measures have a major role to play in research that examines features of people and places, and how they promote and/or damage both oral and general health.