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Marcos Pascoal Pattussi, PhD, Rebecca Hardy, PhD and Aubrey Sheiham, PhD

Marcos Pascoal Pattussi is with the Postgraduate Program on Collective Health of the Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, São Leopoldo, Brazil. Rebecca Hardy is with the UK Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UK. Aubrey Sheiham is with the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, University College, London.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Marcos Pascoal Pattussi, PPG Saúde Coletiva, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos. Av. Unisinos 950, Cx. Postal 275, São Leopoldo—RS, CEP 93022-000, Brazil (e-mail: mppattussi{at}unisinos.br).

Objectives. Evidence suggests that communities with higher levels of social capital have better health, but this association has not been explored specifically in relation to dental injury. We investigated the association between social capital and dental injury.

Methods. We conducted a multilevel study assessed individual and neighborhood effects on dental injury of 1302 14- to 15-year-old adolescents in 39 schools of Distrito Federal, Brazil. Children underwent a dental examination and, with their parents, answered a questionnaire about their local environments. Our data analysis used logistic multilevel modeling of students and neighborhood (the latter defined by catchment areas of schools).

Results. The prevalence of dental injury was significantly lower in neighborhoods with higher levels of social capital, especially among boys. After control for individual and neighborhood variables, the adjusted odds ratio for a 1-unit increase in the standardized social capital index was 0.55 (95% confidence interval=0.37, 0.81; P=.002) among boys.

Conclusions. Social capital may explain inequalities in rates of dental injury, especially among boys.

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