A Gender-Based Approach to Oral Health Changes Across the Lifespan

As many other aspects of human health, oral health differs between men and women, especially at specific life stages. Since many stages of the female life are characterized by vast changes in reproductive hormones, there are corresponding changes that occur throughout the body, including the oral cavity. The sex and age specific changes and risk factors associated with oral health are often overlooked by health care professionals and the general population. This review seeks to elucidate the particular risk factors to which women are susceptible as they age, and point out where during the life course female oral health differs from that of males. Since men and women experience different changes in general and oral health during the course of their lives, health care professionals need to make care more gender and age specific. Dentists are in a particularly good position to implement sex and age specific care because of the regularity with which it is recommended people visit their dentists. Acknowledgement that women of different ages have specific oral health concerns will likely lead to improved oral health status in women of all ages. Disciplines Anthropology This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/anthro_seniortheses/131 A GENDER-BASED APPROACH TO ORAL HEALTH CHANGES ACROSS THE LIFESPAN