Culture, health care, and birth defects in the United States: an introduction.

Culture impacts both professional practice and patient health behaviors. This paper introduces the concept of culture and examines how it may be of importance to health professionals engaged in craniofacial care. The taking of a cultural history is presented as a way of assessing cultural differences. This paper is the first in a series of interrelated papers that define cultural perspectives toward health and craniofacial care in United States subpopulations.