The prevalence of oral diseases remains a pressing public health challenge, affecting some 3.5 billion people worldwide. Maintaining good oral health yields many benefits, including contributing to overall health and well-being. Given that oral diseases share common risk factors with several noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), this makes the interlinkages between oral health and broader health concerns even stronger.

FDI’s Vision 2030 report stresses the importance of an integrated approach for more effective prevention and management of oral diseases. Concrete steps are being taken by FDI towards achieving this vision, with the most recent one being the hosting of a roundtable that brought together non-governmental health organizations to discuss approaches to integrating oral health within the broader context of general health.

 

FDI holds a high-level roundtable to address the role of oral health within general health

On 8 November, FDI convened a high-level roundtable with stakeholders from diverse public health organizations. The purpose of the roundtable was to raise awareness of the importance of oral health in overall health outcomes, identify challenges and opportunities for integrating oral health and general health in global health policies and practice, share knowledge and best practices, identify future areas for collaboration and seek support for “No Sugar November”.

During the event, the discussions addressed critical issues related to oral health, emphasizing the impact of sugar consumption, and explored strategies to prevent NCDs through an integrated approach. Participants contributed their perspectives, focusing on evidence-based approaches, policy development, and collaborative action.

The roundtable proceedings, released on the occasion of Universal Health Coverage Day on 12 December, identify multiple calls to action such as targeting hard to reach populations, global and local educational campaigns, and the engagement of different stakeholders and advocacy groups. Furthermore, FDI called on the participants to support No Sugar November and create a collaborative global effort to tackle the issue of excessive sugar consumption.

 

The roundtable was supported by Colgate.

Thank you to the organizations that participated in the Oral Health within General Health roundtable

• Alzheimer’s Disease International
• C3 Collaborating for Health
• Global Self-care Federation
• International Pharmaceutical Federation
• International Council of Nurses
• International Diabetes Federation
• NCD Alliance
• World Heart Federation
• World Health Organization
• World Health Professions Alliance
• World Medical Association
• World Obesity Federation
• World Physiotherapy