Abstract

DAZA-CARDONA BSC, MSC, Jorge Alexander  and  MARTINEZ-MEDINA MD, MSC, PHD, Santiago. Dental Chart as an Articulator of Affects: An Ethnographic Approach beyond Representation. Rev. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2023, vol.21, n.3, e9.  Epub June 04, 2024. ISSN 1692-7273.  https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/revsalud/a.12892.

This paper offers an empirical and conceptual exploration of the dental chart, a tool used to assess dental status. It is built on the "ontological turn" and recent affect theories to reflect beyond the epistemological concept of representation. This paper aims to understand the material, embodied, and affective relationships implemented in dental training regarding the dental chart. A dental education program in an intermediate city in Colombia was taken as a case study, mainly what happened in clinical practices and faculty meetings. It adopted the notion of "ethnographic moment" proposed by Marilyn Strathern for the analysis. Diverse situations were observed, which demonstrated the capacity of the dental chart to articulate affects, such as discussing conventions, filling out clinical records using a pencil, moving the chair of the dental unit to see the teeth, drying with the triple syringe, explaining subtle differences between anatomy and pathology, and evaluating the dental charts carried out by the students. It was inferred that the relationship between the patient's mouth and the dental chart is complex and mutually excessive, enabling a richer experience of the teeth.

Keywords : dentistry; affect; human body; discrimination learning; social sciences; anthropology; medical.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )