Systems science and oral health: Implications for dental public health?

Systems science methods offer an alternative way to approach problems within Dental Public Health by encouraging the consideration of the wider systems and structures in which oral health problems exist. Through such an approach, and consideration of interacting systems over multiple hierarchical levels, it may be possible to better understand the complexity associated with oral health related outcomes, and to improve theoretical understanding of these relationships. Simulation methods associated with systems science can also be used to help model and capture these real-world problems, and to help test the interactions associated with different elements of a system. The aim of this review is to summarise the concepts behind systems science approaches, and what they can offer the field of Dental Public Health. This will include an overview of the way systems science can approach problems associated with complexity, and the benefits these approaches can have. The main methods associated with the field will then be reviewed, along with examples of their application. This paper will then outline some of the main implications, both conceptual and methodological, that adopting systems science methods may have for Dental Public Health. Finally, the challenges associated with systems science will also be presented. It is hoped that this review will highlight the benefits of systems thinking, and how it can add to our conceptual knowledge of the contexts in which complex health problems are embedded.