[Inequality and damaged teeth: oral sequelae from living in poverty in the Dendê community, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil].

This anthropological study focuses on the experience of dental disease in the context of poverty in Northeast Brazil. For six months in 2004, ethnographic interviews, narratives, and participatory observation were conducted with 31 residents of the low-income Dendê neighborhood in Fortaleza, Ceará, and the results were analyzed using a hermeneutic-dialectic method. Precarious living conditions make healthcare a difficult priority.