Resumo

FADEL, Cristina Berger  e  SALIBA, Nemre Adas. Social representations as an instrument of information for the public's oral health. RGO, Rev. gaúch. odontol. (Online) [online]. 2010, vol.58, n.4, pp. 521-526. ISSN 1981-8637.

In addition to understanding the distribution of the populations' health-disease process, epidemiology has sought to study the causality associated with this process, which humanity developed over time, and to interpret the narrative of this field of knowledge. A solid review of the literature was done to emphasize the importance of using popular knowledge as a qualitative health-related investigation strategy and to demystify the use of social representations in the field of dentistry. By initiating the design of a new paradigm for understanding the oral health-disease process, which favors the idea that it is also the result of a sociocultural production, knowledge of the circumstances and context in which it is inserted becomes critical for health assessment actions. Although scientific dentistry has advanced the understanding of oral diseases, communication with popular knowledge leaves much to be desired, since most professionals find themselves trapped in a fragmented model of care. Reconstruction of the logic by which the representations of oral health were produced and socialized over time can be considered a relevant and productive purpose of the representations in the dental area.

Palavras-chave : Qualitative analysis; Epidemiology; Public health; Oral health.