Social epidemiology is a branch of epidemiology that aims to describe the socioeconomic determinants of health and, more importantly, helps to understand and intervene in socioeconomic inequalities. However, social oral epidemiology is often limited to documenting socioeconomic inequalities rather than explain and facilitate the understanding of them. This symposium aims to overcome some of these limitations by providing theoretical and methodological support for the development of research on the reduction of oral health inequalities and underpin policy on Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

This symposium will examine (i) the current theoretical frameworks on oral health inequalities, focusing on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; (ii) the comprehensive approach of the burden of direct and indirect costs for individuals and societies of oral diseases and its impact on oral health inequalities; (iii) the methodological advances to simulate public health policies to address marginalised groups and reduce oral health inequalities.