FDI report: World facing oral health crisis

The world is experiencing a large and growing crisis in access to oral healthcare that, if left unchecked, risks an unmanageable explosion of oral disease, especially in developing countries, according to a report issued today by the FDI World Dental Federation.

Oral disease affects already most adults globally and as many as 90% of the world's schoolchildren, according to FDI, which released the Vision 2020 report at its annual Congress, being held this year in Hong Kong.

In an effort to marshal global public opinion to address this crisis, FDI has set a date of 2020 to respond to the crisis. In the Vision 2020 report, FDI offers for the very first time a five-point blueprint that delineates the challenges facing oral health and oral healthcare:

1. Expanding access to care
2. Expanding the role of existing oral healthcare professionals
3. Closing the gap between dental education and medical education
4. Mitigating the impact on oral healthcare from variations in economic growth
5. Improving the implementation of oral research findings into daily practice

The disparity in access to oral healthcare is stark, the FDI emphasized. In Croatia, for example, there is one oral healthcare professional for every 560 people, and in the U.S., one for every 2,200 people. But in China, there's just one oral healthcare professional for every 82,000 people, and in Ethiopia, one for every 1.3 million people.

The location of FDI's annual congress in Hong Kong highlights in particular the increased incidence of oral disease in Asia, where rising wealth creates the conditions that often lead to increased oral disease.

As the oral healthcare crisis mounts, FDI increasingly is shifting its role to serve as a public policy advocate for oral healthcare, beyond its more traditional role as an organizer of industry meetings and congresses. Coincident with the organization's 100th Annual Congress, FDI is devoting more of its resources to developing health policy and speaking as a unified voice for the promotion of oral healthcare worldwide.