The Invisibility of Oral Health Studies about Women in Situation of Prostitution: A Scoping Review

Alejandro Vásquez Hernández; Annie M. Vivares-Builes & Andrés A. Agudelo-Suárez

Summary

This study aimed to describe the existing studies worldwide related to oral health in women in prostitution. For this exploratory review (Scoping Review) on the subject in question in studies published in the form of original scientific articles in journals peer review was conducted without restriction in the search period and indexed in 4 international databases (PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS and SCOPUS). Description of the main characteristics of the studies. The main results, after making the selection process 10 studies with different methodological approaches (quantitative, qualitative or mixed and intervention studies) were found. Six of the studies were conducted in Asian countries (Japan and Singapore). The themes were: oral manifestations of HIV, condom use, practices and attitudes towards oral sex. Only a specific oral health study conducted in Senegal which analyzes the periodontal situation of sex workers with and without HIV was found. In conclusion, studies on oral health for individuals in prostitution are scarce. Being a socially sensitive and vulnerable group, it is essential to encourage research in these women to identify potential situations of social inequality that impact oral health conditions in this group.

KEY WORDS: oral health, health profile, prostitution, dentistry research.

How to cite this article

VÁSQUEZ, H. A.; VIVARES-BUILES, A. M. &. AGUDELO-SUÁREZ, A. A. The invisibility of oral health studies about women in situation of prostitution: A scoping review. Int. J. Odontostomat., 10(2):287-295, 2016.