A new approach to oral health can lead to healthier societies

More than 3.5 billion people globally suffer from the main oral diseases. These conditions combined have an estimated global prevalence of 45%—higher than any other non-communicable disease.1 A major barrier to improving this situation is our approach to oral health.The prevailing mindset is that oral health is synonymous with dentistry and that poor oral health has little impact on personal and societal health and wellbeing. We need to shift away from the idea that the prevention and control of certain oral diseases equates to overall oral health and instead move to a broader and more inclusive understanding. Expanded definitions of oral health from the World Health Organization and FDI World Dental Federation are transformational and can help realise a model for sustainable oral health put forward by the US National Academy of Medicine.23 The academy proposes that oral health is influenced by a wide range of biological, psychosocial, and spiritual…
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