Resumo

ALEMAN SANCHEZ, Pedro Carlos; GONZALEZ VALDES, Damaris; DELGADO DIAZ, Yaíma  e  ACOSTA ACOSTA, Estela. Family and its role in oral health promotion and prevention. Rev Cubana Estomatol [online]. 2007, vol.44, n.1, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-297X.

The family is the basic institution of the society, the reproductive unit that keeps the human species, and thus, it constitutes the element that centered health production at microsocial scale. The family has important functions in the biological, psychological and social development of the individual and has assured, together with other social groups, the socialization and education of the human being for its integration into the social life and the transfer of cultural values from one generation to the other. We may say that the family is an ecological triade, still partly unknown, difficult to be managed by the dentist. The above-mentioned prompted us to make a literature review on the importance of family in the promotion and prevention of general and oral health status and to update knowledge on our country´s situation. It was concluded that the role of the family should be improved in this regard by creating certain health culture that embraces all aspects of life including oral health, in order to  better the results in the prevention of diseases and health promotion.

Palavras-chave : family; promotion; prevention; oral health.