Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, 21 Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AA.
Sociol Health Illn. 2009 Nov;31(7):1093-108. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2009.01173.x. Epub 2009 Jul 29.
This article provides an historical review of international research related to sociology and oral health and healthcare. I begin by considering the relevance of the mouth and oral health to social interactions and physical health, and outline existing inequalities in oral health and healthcare experiences. The paper examines critically some of the existing published research in the field - considering both what might be described as sociology of oral health and healthcare and sociology in oral healthcare - and demonstrates the dearth of sociological research related to this subject compared to other areas of interest within the field of sociology of health and illness. I conclude by suggesting some ways in which this area could be expanded and developed further. I suggest that sociological analyses of how individuals experience, understand and manage their mouth and oral health, can add to and enhance the broader field of the sociology of health and illness. Further, examining experiences and provision of oral healthcare may provide sociology with a new opportunity to explore the neglected field of private healthcare, but also to engage with health policy makers who seek to address oral healthcare needs.
本文对国际上与社会学和口腔健康及医疗相关的研究进行了历史回顾。我首先考虑了口腔和口腔健康与社会互动和身体健康的相关性，并概述了现有的口腔健康和医疗保健体验方面的不平等现象。本文批判性地考察了该领域的一些现有研究——既考虑了可以被描述为口腔健康和医疗保健社会学的研究，也考虑了口腔医疗保健中的社会学研究——并表明，与该领域中健康和疾病社会学的其他研究领域相比，与该主题相关的社会学研究甚少。最后，我提出了进一步拓展和发展该领域的一些方法。我认为，对个人如何体验、理解和管理他们的口腔和口腔健康的社会学分析，可以为更广泛的健康和疾病社会学领域增添内容。此外，考察口腔保健的体验和提供情况，可以为社会学提供一个新的机会，来探索被忽视的私人医疗保健领域，同时也可以让关注口腔保健需求的卫生政策制定者参与进来。
