CULTURE AND ORAL HEALTH-A REVIEW

*Jeevan Josh, Pradeep Tangade, Thanveer K., Ankita Jain, Supurna Pandit and Jagriti Yadav

ABSTRACT

Health is an integral part of an individual’s life and is heavily influenced by the cultural beliefs among people. Cultural beliefs affects the general as well as oral health of an individual. Cultural practices that are carried out by people has positive as well as negative impact on the quality of life. So it is important for public health workers to create awareness among people regarding the positive and negative impacts of cultural practices that are followed by them. Literature showed that many preventable diseases in the community are the result of lack of awareness among people regarding their cultural practices. By keeping in mind the cultural customs and beliefs of people proper diagnosis and treatment of the problem can be carried out by healthcare providers. This review article is an attempt to understand the cultural influence on the oral health of the people.

Keywords: Culture, Beliefs, Oral health.