title: Neighborhood social capital and dental injuries in Brazilian adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program on Collective Health of the Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, São Leopoldo, Brazil. mppattussi@unisinos.br
authors.forename: Marcos Pascoal
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Pattussi
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Aubrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheiham
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000293:injuries; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000145:classification*; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018677:Tooth Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data