title: [The use of metaphors to express toothache: a study in the field of the anthropology of health].
abstract: This research was conducted with patients who sought emergency care at a Comprehensive Primary Care Clinic (CIAP IV) at the Dental School of Minas Gerais Federal University and at the Dental Center of a medium-sized city in the state of Minas Gerais. The scope of this article is to identify how the social representations of this issue are generated through the metaphors used by patients to express toothache. A total of 35 individuals of both genders who sought emergency care for toothache participated in the study. Content theme analysis was used. Social representations of toothache are generated as people resort to their life experiences to find words to express the problem. Prior sensations and feelings, and even imaginary situations, generate metaphors to attempt to explain the suffering. Toothache is often compared with the worst feelings ever experienced by individuals. Toothache represents great suffering for people seeking emergency dental care. This fact may help to develop further public oral health policies, bearing in mind that a socially deprived population is more often afflicted by toothache.
authors.forename: Simone Dutra
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Flávio de Freitas
authors.initials: Fde F
authors.lastname: Mattos
authors.forename: João Augusto do Carmo
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
authors.forename: Mauro Henrique Nogueira Guimaraes de
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Abreu
authors.forename: Natália Enes
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000883:Anthropology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019365:Metaphor; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012961:Sociology; D014098:Toothache; D055815:Young Adult