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The analysis of social inequality is one of the predominant concerns of sociology. Inequalities in general health or utilization of health care services are nearly universal. The purpose of the paper is to describe inequalities in dental health in Denmark. Recent empirical findings are reviewed. Longitudinal data on the number of adults with few or no teeth left show remarkable differences between low and high social classes in 1976 and 1986. Among the younger individuals some reduction in the social differences has been observed over time This was ascribed to the establishment of a public child dental health service. The level of dental caries and unmet treatment need is higher among workers than officials. Studies of industrial workers also indicate that dental illness or diseases are induced by environmental working factors. The association between health-related behavior and dental health status has been demonstrated as well as the effects of social network relations and lifestyle. Finally, theoretical explanations of the inequalities in dental health are outlined: artefact explanations, theories of natural or social selection, materialist or structuralist explanations, and cultural/behavioral explanations. Arguments for the relevance of the materialist/structuralist and the cultural/behavioral approaches are given and a combined model on dental health is presented. The practical implications of the various models are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social inequalities in health and oral health continue to present a major challenge to public health. Progress towards the development of interventions to reduce health inequalities is currently being hampered by an incomplete understanding of the causes of inequalities in health. This paper aims to provide oral health researchers with an overview of four current explanations for inequalities in oral health and to suggest further areas of research needed to advance our understanding of the causes of social inequalities in oral health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is tempting to assume that the increase in use-rates in Norway through-out the 1970's reflects a decrease in social inequality concerning use of dental services. In order to assess whether or not equalization has been achieved from 1973 to 1983, the application of a conservative and a radical standard led to different conclusions about equalization. Therefore, a formal model containing explicit assumptions was constructed and used to test the null hypothesis of no significant change in social inequality concerning regular use of dental services as well as no significant change in use-rates from 1973 to 1983. The model corrects for the ceiling effect as the proportion of regular dental visitors from a social status group increases, by assuming that the dental visiting potential is normally distributed within each social status group. The empirical basis was formed by nationwide interview surveys in 1973 (n = 1630) and in 1983 (n = 1410). Level of income was selected as indicator of social status and grouped into seven categories. Regular visitor rates for each income group were transformed to standard normal deviates (z-scores) and regressed upon level of income separately for 1973 and 1983. There was a net improvement of proportions of regular dental visitors from 1973 to 1983 as measured by a significant decrease of the intercept, but no equalization between social status groups as measured by no significant change of the slope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]