Lancet Series 2019: Oral Health
2019
This Lancet Series highlights oral health as a serious but often overlooked global health problem, citing high prevalence and substantial disease burden. The first paper in the series describes the scope of the global oral disease epidemic and sets it in the context of its high costs and social and commercial determinants. It argues that the high prevalence and unequal distribution of these preventable diseases are the result of broad inequities in access to care. The second paper critiques dentistry for its failure to address inequalities and the underlying causes of diseases in favor of treatment, creating a model that fails the world’s poor. It then focuses on sugar consumption, laying out its effects and potential upstream policies that can fight back against its powerful industry interests. As a whole, the series makes the case for greater integration of dentistry into the global drive for universal health coverage in order to address concerns of spread and equity in a more efficient way, alongside other systemic measures to address the key determinants of oral health.
Series papers include:
Lancet Series 2019: Oral Health
Source:
Oral Health. The Lancet 2019. https://www.thelancet.com/series/oral-health.