Half of the world’s population has no access to any kind of oral care and lives with untreated oral disease every day, according to Dr. Habib Benzian, a dentist and professor of epidemiology and health promotion at New York University.

“There’s no other disease group that affects so many people,” Benzian said.

In fact, oral health issues impact 3.5 billion people globally.

Benzian spoke on the most recent episode of Global Health Matters with Dr. Garry Aslanyan, alongside Bulela Vava, a dentist and president of the Public Oral Health Forum in South Africa. The discussion centred around the World Health Organization’s new global oral health strategy and action plan for 2023 to 2030. The plan calls for everyone to have access to essential oral health services—prevention, care, and rehabilitation—by 2030. However, the vision remains far from being realised.

Why the gap?

Benzian and Vava pointed to several barriers. One is the historical professionalisation of oral health as a separate field, which has led to its exclusion from broader health systems. Another is the framing of oral health as a private responsibility rather than a public health issue, keeping it out of many government-funded healthcare programs. There is also a widespread complacency and a lack of awareness that oral diseases affect overall health and should be taken seriously.

What needs to change?

Advocacy, the speakers agreed. Benzian noted that oral health professionals are often trained in clinical settings and focus on treating individual patients rather than driving systemic change. Yet, as Aslanyan said, the real challenge is for “us all to see our role not only as providers of care, but as mobilisers of community agency.”

Listen to more Global Health Matters podcasts on Health Policy Watch >>

Image Credits: TDR Global Health Matters.