What do we mean by social determinants of oral health?: On the multiple-and sometimes pernicious-uses of social determinants of health in public health and dentistry.

There has never been a time when public health professionals, dental researchers, and oral health care providers so often came across the expression social determinants of health. From increasing numbers of scientific articles to conferences organized by associations, social determinants of health seem to be everywhere but especially at the top of research priority lists and public policy agendas. The wide acceptance of the expression could lead one to believe that there is consensus about the way social determinants of oral health and oral health inequities are understood and tackled. It could also imply that improving oral health and oral health equity is much easier today than it has ever been. Holding this viewpoint would be naive, however, as it ignores past and ongoing disputes over what social determinants of health may involve and imply. 1 Borde E. Hernández M. Revisiting the social determinants of health agenda from the global South. Glob Public Health. 2019; 14: 847-862 Crossref Scopus (20) Google Scholar Dr. Bastos is an associate professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. Dr. Borde is an adjunct professor, School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.