Baker, S.R. and Gibson, B.G. (2014) Social oral epidemi(olog)(2)y where next: one small step or one giant leap? Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 42 (6). 481 - 494. ISSN 0301-5661
Abstract
Since the early 1990s, there has been heated debate critically reflecting on social epidemiology. Yet, very little of this debate has reached oral epidemiology. This is no more noticeable than in the field of oral health inequalities. One of the significant achievements of social oral epidemiology has been the persistent documentation of social patterning of oral disease. Nevertheless, where social oral epidemiology has fallen down is going beyond description to explaining these patterns. Thinking how and in what way things happen, not just in relation to oral health inequalities but also more broadly, requires a more creative approach which links to scholarship outside of dentistry, including the work from critical epidemiologists to that within the social sciences. The aim of this review study is to provide a critical commentary on key aspects of more general epidemiological debates in order to inform and develop social oral epidemiology theory and methodology. In the first section, ‘Where are we now?’, six key debates are reflected upon: (i) analysis of variance versus analysis of causes, (ii) the fallacy of independent effects, (iii) black box thinking, (iv) theory and the understanding of mechanisms, (v) individualization of risk and (vi) the meaning of ‘social’. In the second section, ‘Where to next?’ we draw on a number of fundamental issues from within the social science literature in order to highlight possible channels of future inquiry. Our overriding goal throughout is to facilitate a critical engagement in order to improve understanding and generate knowledge in relation to population oral health.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2014 The Authors. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
Keywords: | causation; dental public health; health inequalities; lifecourse; oral epidemiology; risk factor; theory |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Clinical Dentistry (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 18 Nov 2015 13:43 |
Last Modified: | 18 Nov 2015 13:43 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.12118 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/cdoe.12118 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:90230 |