Cultural anthropology and its effect in oral health

Culture plays an important role in human societies. Every culture has its own customs which may have significant influence on health and oral health. It is now fairly established that the cultural factors are deeply involved in the whole way of life, like in the matters of nutrition, immunization, personal hygiene, family planning, child rearing, seeking early medical care, disposal of solid wastes and human excreta etc. All cultural practices are not harmful. The inclination to get into the habits of smoking, alcoholism, drug addiction in the name of civilization among the younger generation needs to be countered at the earliest, otherwise, it may have a huge deleterious impact on the health status of the generation to come. We have to identify the cultural factors that are deleterious and discourage these practices through intensive health education. The primary health workers and school teachers can a play a vital role in creating the awareness on the adverse effects of deleterious cultural practices among the general population and students.