Social exclusion is the inability of taking an active part in a social, cultural, and economic life of society. The health consequences of social exclusion are an actual topic for discussion these days because even isolated people have right for medical service. The aim of the given essay is to define the best strategies for reducing the influence of social exclusion to the isolated peoples general and oral health.
First of all, social exclusion means that a person has significantly constrained sources of support in the unfriendly conditions caused by the isolation. Such vicious circle may only be broken by understanding the original roots of social exclusion. The most spread reason for a person being socially isolated lies in her origin from a harsh family environment (Taylor, 2011). Indeed, the formation of a childs mind and health which takes place in a risky family environment will cause some serious outcomes in the adult age. This fact makes the process of social exclusion almost irreversible for the adult-aged individual, thus, the current situation is still to be deeply investigated and improved.
Social exclusion is considered to make major contributions to the health inequality (Popay, Escorel, Hernandez, Johnston, Mathieson, & Rispel, 2008). The most common health consequences of social isolation find reflection in heart diseases since excluded individuals tend to be more vulnerable to stress and show a more aggressive reaction to it which does serious harm to the cardiovascular system (Taylor, 2011). Moreover, a negative influence that social exclusion has on oral health could not be omitted since people living beyond the line of poverty face the problem of undernutrition or, at least, an unhealthy nutrition. Consequently, it gradually produces vitamins A, B, C, D, or calcium deficiency that is inextricably connected with serious tooth problems such as caries or periodontal disease. These illnesses are believed to cause no symptoms in early stages while the progress of these diseases may be the reason for the loss of teeth if not treated timely and adequately (Gerritsen, Allen, Witter, Bronkhorst, & Creugers, 2010).
Unfortunately, socially excluded people often have no medical awareness and do not pay attention to their oral health until it worsens to the dead point. In addition, some isolated people deny their having the dire need of getting medical service. For instance, once upon a time I witnessed a conversation between a dentist and a poorly dressed boy during the regular medical examination at school. Answering doctors question concerning the yearly number of visits to a dentist, the boy claimed that his parents do not believe to physicians and prefer to cure their children themselves. The given example is an illustration to one of the key concepts of the ecological perspective to health promotion service. The individual is influenced by his surrounding which does not allow him to follow doctors instructions (Glanz & Rimer, 2005). This situation is great evidence to a critical necessity of a complex social work with socially excluded families.
The elements included in a strategy of controlling and promoting oral health are quite obvious. First of all, social organizations could do better in an earlier detection of excluded families with school teachers and public health professionals involved in visiting people who live in poor districts. Furthermore, both young and experienced doctors could take part in a specific kind of training in order to increase peoples awareness of various health problems including oral and tooth diseases. These actions will give socially excluded a chance to save their health and show that the society has not forgotten about them.
To sum up, an efficient strategy for medical assistance to socially excluded people should be based on the collaboration of the social organizations and medical institutions. The improvement and the results of their work are vitally important for solving the problem of social isolation since health is the first step for a socially excluded person to come back to a normal life.
References
Gerritsen, A. E., Allen, P. F., Witter, D. J., Bronkhorst, E. M., & Creugers, N. H. (2010). Tooth Loss and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes Health Qual Life Outcomes, 8(1), 126.
Glanz, K., & Rimer, B. K. (2005). Theory at a Glance: A Guide for Health Promotion Practice. Web.
Popay, J., Escorel, S., Hernandez, M., Johnston, H., Mathieson, J., & Rispel, L. (2008). Understanding and Tackling Social Exclusion: Final Report to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health from the Social Exclusion Knowledge Network. Web.
Taylor, S. [UCLA]. (2011). Stress and Health across the Lifespan [Video file]. Web.