The Corporate Determinants of Oral Health A Scoping Study
Abstract
More than 3.5 billion people worldwide are affected by oral health problems, making the burden of oral disease a public health issue that influences multiple facets of the lives of those affected. Oral health problems are also disparately found in greater magnitude and severity among the disadvantaged sections of society. Such inequalities are only exacerbated by corporations that misuse advertising platforms to promote health-damaging products, target gullible or dependent populations such as children, or lobby for self-serving policy change with drastic implications for healthcare. A discussion of these corporate determinants of oral health is relatively new and deserves the attention of researchers, policymakers, and corporations alike. A scoping review of the studies published in this area over the past decade was conducted with the aim of gauging the extent and nature of research on the corporate determinants of oral health. Forty-nine studies were identified using various search keywords on MEDLINE® (PubMed®) and Web of Science databases. However, 19 studies were excluded because they (1) were not in the English language, (2) were inaccessible, or (3) did not directly address the relationship between oral health and corporate factors. The vast majority of the remaining 30 studies could be divided into two dominant themes: (1) investigations of the positive and negative effects of corporate advertising on oral health, or risk factors thereof; and (2) learnings from historical sugar and tobacco industry documents about the use of tactics such as misrepresenting, lobbying and litigation to influence public relations and policymaking. The majority of the studies discussed the negative effects of corporate determinants of oral health. Almost all studies followed either a professional, policy-oriented, critical, or foresight-oriented approach towards investigating the corporate determinants of oral health. There is a clear lack of studies that discuss the importance of a symbiotic relationship between corporations and consumers, or inform corporations and other funding agencies about how they may gain from funding neutral, evidence-backed studies that can help them recognise the impact of corporate products on the oral health of consumers. Future studies in these two areas may help guide corporations and policymakers on how to create a favourable balance between corporate interests and public oral health.