Dr. Ammar Shaalan
Dental Healthcare Centre, Iraq
Biography:
Dental Healthcare Centre, Iraq
Abstract:
Objective: the aim of the project review is to explore existing approaches to understand the relationship between consumerism and health and will enable exploration how consumerism is understood and what the link might be between consumerism, health and wellbeing. In addition, the review will enable an evaluation of how consumerism has been seen in dental science and evaluate how the concept might be applied in dental public health.
Background: the research concerned with the dental health consumers perspective, so that medical consumerism, dental consumerism and their definition and origins examined. In addition, the role of consumers’ pressure groups also discussed.
Methods: a narrative review method is conducted to review all the papers and textbooks which contain relevant information to the consumerism and dental consumers via using electronic databases such as: Web of Science, Medline and Nexis. All data collected were within the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the research, and in English and Arabic language. Furthermore, the time range for the research was 1980-2015 in order to include as much as possible relevant articles related to the dental consumerism.
Discussion: the review’s discussion revealed that the consumers exercise an active social role by participating in decision-making and policy change while the patients showed a passive social role. The medical consumerism is more developed than the dental one. In addition, the role of the pressure groups is less effective in dental consumerism when compared to the more advanced role of the medical one.
Conclusion and recommendations: it has been stated that the medical consumerism model should be applied to the dental one in order to improve it, also the dental consumer groups, forums and others should be listened to and consulted in concern to dental health decision and policy making. Moreover, more research should be conducted in relation to dental consumers and consumerism concerning dental services and caries.