Global challenges in Oral Health

Abstract

The aim of this literature study is to present the challenges in oral health associated with: I) Social determinants and common risk factors as the main drivers of oral disease; II) Inequalities in oral health- disease burden, impact and access to care; III) Challenges in dental education- delivery of oral care and funding. The main social determinants and common risk factors of oral health are related to socioeconomic status; educational level; health behaviours; mental health; culture-ethnicity-race; immigrant status; acculturation; social environment; social capital; and access to dental care. All the above indicate that a deteriorated/impoverished/vulnerable social status of the family or the individual in combination with the absence of public oral health policies will eventually result in unmet oral/dental need. Oral health inequalities can be understood as differences in oral health status or in the distributions of health determinants between population groups which occupy different levels in the society. Thus, oral health inequalities are mostly experienced by underserved populations; indigenous; and rural populations either because these groups are settled in remote rural areas or because they cannot afford the high cost of dental treatment. The challenges in contemporary and future dental education can be summarized in how the dental institutions will secure a sufficient funding for the promotion of research and how they will educate and train oral health-providers who will serve the public good. The findings of this study highlight future challenges in oral health both in developed and developing countries. The impoverishment of the population worldwide; the constant migration of populations; and the failure of delivering an oral health-care system that includes underserved populations will undoubtedly increase the need for dental professionals capable of successfully delivering dental care, even under unfavourable conditions. To conclude, the future oral health providers, health care administrators and oral health-decision makers need tools, competence and information in order to access, monitor and improve the oral health-needs of a growing and demanding global population.