Community dentistry and oral epidemiology最新文献

{"title":"Multimorbidity and Essential Dental Care Needs: Results From the 2003 and 2016-2017 Chilean National Health Survey.","authors":"Priscila Gómez-San Martín, Matías Santos-López, Paula Margozzini-Maira, Álvaro Passi-Solar, Andrés Celis-Sersen, Duniel Ortuño-Borroto","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70117","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Oral diseases (ODs) and multimorbidity (MM) are major global public health challenges that share common risk factors. Chile has implemented the 'Multimorbidity patient-centred care model' (MPCM) to address this; however, improving oral healthcare for adults remains an unresolved challenge. This study aimed to compare the essential dental care need (EDCN) among Chilean adults with different levels of MM between ENS 2003 and 2016-17 National Health Surveys (ENS).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A serial cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data from the ENS 2003 and ENS 2016-2017. Two MM definitions based on 18 chronic conditions were used: a standard definition (MM_≥ 2 conditions) and a second approach categorising participants into four levels (MM_G0-G3) using the MPCM risk score. EDCN was defined as the presence of at least one tooth with cavitated caries or a need for dentures. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated using robust Poisson regression models accounting for the complex survey design. Three sensitivity analyses were performed for the missing data, and stratified analyses by age (< 65 vs. ≥ 65 years) and by time since last dental visit. The significance level was set to 0.05.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 2157 participants from ENS 2003 and 4024 from ENS 2016-17 were included. Among participants with MM, EDCN prevalence was 81.6% (95% CI: 74.5-85.1) in ENS 2003 and 69.2% (95% CI: 64.9-72.9) in ENS 2016-17. After adjustment for confounders, the prevalence of EDCN among those with MM_≥ 2 decreased from 71.0% in ENS 2003 to 46.8% in ENS 2016-17. In the ENS 2016-17, after adjusting for confounders, participants < 65 years in the highest MM category (MM_G3) had a 26% higher prevalence of EDCN compared to those in MM_G0.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Analyses from ENS 2016-17 suggest that greater MM burden may be associated with higher prevalence of EDCN among adults aged < 65 years. Strategies aimed at improving adult oral healthcare coverage and integrating the prevention of MM and ODs in younger populations may help reduce unmet dental care needs.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149058944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Socioeconomic Inequalities and Oral Health Among Adults and Elderly People in Rural Riverside Communities in the Amazon, Brazil.","authors":"Emmanuelle de Fátima Noberto Bezerra, Ana Paula Corrêa de Queiroz Herkrath, Fernando José Herkrath, Luiza Garnelo, Sully de Souza Sampaio, Mario Vianna Vettore","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70122","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To examine the extent to which socioeconomic and environmental characteristics are associated with oral health outcomes among adults and elderly people living in rural riverside communities in the Brazilian Amazon. The study also examined the mediating role of self-reported dental status and reason for the last dental visit in these associations.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A household-based cross-sectional study included 569 residents from seven riverside communities along the Negro River, Manaus, Brazil. Data on age, sex, family income, conditional and unconditional social cash transfer programmes, housing conditions and sanitation, self-reported dental status, reason for the last dental visit, dental pain and satisfaction with oral health were collected through structured interviews. Structural equation modelling was used in the data analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Poorer self-reported dental status was directly associated with non-enrolment in conditional cash transfer programme, lower income, greater age and female sex. Non-enrolment in conditional cash transfer programme and problem-oriented dental care-seeking behaviour was linked to dental pain. Worse self-reported dental status and inadequate household sanitation were directly associated with problem-oriented dental care-seeking behaviour. Poor satisfaction with oral health was linked to dental pain and problem-oriented dental care-seeking behaviour. Several indirect relationships were detected. Family income, self-reported dental status, reason for the last dental visit and dental pain mediated the relationships between demographics, cash transfer programmes and satisfaction with oral health.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Participation in income transfer programmes and family income emerged as relevant factors in reducing inequalities in oral health among adults and elderly people living in rural riverside communities. Improving the regularity and frequency of dental services can have a direct impact on satisfaction with oral health. Inter-sectoral actions targeting social and financial protection should be on the political agenda to improve the oral health of people living in rural riverside communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149058968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Caries Endgame: Operationalizing Civic Imagination to Eliminate Tooth Decay.","authors":"Benjamin W Chaffee","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70123","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70123","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149059012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Institutional Ethnography of Teeth Whitening Industry: How Professional Power Becomes Commercial Power in Dentistry.","authors":"Rizwana Lala, Peter G Robinson, Barry J Gibson","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70116","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to demonstrate how power is exercised, and by whom, to expand the practice of teeth whitening in dentistry and the resultant consequences for the public.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Institutional ethnography (IE) conducted in England that included 100 h of observations at cosmetic dentistry conferences, training and treatments; five field-site and eight in-depth interviews with dentists; 16 in-depth and 3 diary interviews with patients/public. IE analysis identified discourses recurring across field sites and interviews, traced the institutional texts they implied, mapped how institutions activated these texts and generated further texts (work-text-work sequences), then examined disjunctures between institutional discourses and the lived experiences of patients/public.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Two recurring discourses were identified: teeth whitening by beauticians is a \"crime\" and the \"practice of dentistry\", both centred on patient safety. Corporates (Ultradent and Optident) and democratic institutions wielded competing texts (EU Cosmetics Directive and Medical Devices Directive) to promote and resist the sale of higher-peroxide teeth whitening gel in the UK, but corporates failed to secure market entry. Dental institutions used scientific authority to frame teeth whitening as a patient safety issue, opening European markets to higher-concentration products, with dentists as gatekeepers. The Dentists Act 1984 was wielded to exclude competitors such as beauticians. From the patient/public standpoint, disjunctures revealed lived harms including unaffordable dental care, unsafe healthcare spaces, concerns around bodily autonomy and democratic accountability.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Dental institutions and scientific discourse are shaped by power relations, with ethical concepts like safety politically mobilised and functioning as transnational commercial power.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149058927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Scoping Review of Early Childhood Caries Prevalence, Determinants, and Interventions Among Indigenous Populations in Africa Using a Decolonizing Framework.","authors":"Moréniké Oluwátóyìn Foláyan, Emmanuel Oyeyemi, Ayodeji Arobo","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70091","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Indigenous populations experience a disproportionate burden of early childhood caries (ECC). However, the true scale of the problem among Indigenous populations in Africa is unknown, obscuring and hindering the development of equitable interventions. This scoping review aimed to map the existing literature on the prevalence, determinants, and interventions for ECC among Indigenous children's populations in Africa using a decolonizing framework.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The scoping review was registered with the Open Science Foundation (DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/A8YHN) and followed PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Guided by the Population, Concept, Context framework, the study examined evidence on the prevalence, social determinants (including water access, food sovereignty, and colonial legacy), and interventions for ECC among Indigenous children (aged 0-5 years) in Africa. A search in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and grey literature (WHO, UNICEF, IWGIA, African Commission) was conducted up to December 2025, with hand-searching of references of manuscripts and expert consultation. Two reviewers extracted data on study characteristics, ECC prevalence, determinants (categorized as individual/family, community, or systems/policy level), and intervention approaches (decolonizing vs. conventional). Descriptive and inductive thematic analyses were performed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Two studies (one from South Africa and Cameroon, respectively), both cross-sectional, met the inclusion criteria. ECC prevalence was high but variable (27.5%-63%). The studies identified multi-level social determinants, including individual/family factors (diet, oral hygiene), community factors (cultural norms), and systemic factors (healthcare access inequalities, colonial legacy). The data collection process was characterized by externally driven, consultative approaches with minimal community involvement, failing to reflect decolonizing or participatory principles.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>There is a gap in knowledge regarding ECC in African Indigenous children's populations. The near-total absence of evidence, coupled with research models that perpetuate colonial power dynamics, highlights an urgent need for a paradigm shift. Future research must be grounded in decolonizing frameworks that prioritize community-led, participatory approaches, Indigenous sovereignty, and self-determination to address this oral health crisis effectively.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149058899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Community Readiness for Children's Oral Health Improvement Across Three Cities in England.","authors":"Kara A Gray-Burrows, Katherine Kaczmarczyk, Sakina Edwebi, Sarah Crawley, Yasmen Elsadek, Shahid Islam, Rachael H Moss, Zoe Marshman, Peter F Day","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70111","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Childhood caries is a widespread global public health issue, with its prevalence closely reflecting underlying health and social inequalities. Planning effective oral health programmes tailored to the needs of the community is of primary importance. The Community Readiness Model (CRM) provides a methodological approach to quantify the degree to which a community is willing to engage with programmes and thus inform adaptations to maximise engagement and impact. This study aimed to apply the CRM to explore the factors influencing community readiness to improve children's oral health.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A mixed-methods study was conducted using the CRM across three cities in England. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with key community stakeholders (n = 27). Quantitative readiness scores were derived across six domains to classify each city within one of nine readiness stages and allow comparison between localities. Interview transcripts were analysed using framework analysis to contextualise quantitative findings.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Two cities achieved a mean score of five, corresponding to the \"Preparation\" stage of community readiness, while one city scored three, indicating \"Vague awareness\". Although oral health programmes were present in all the cities, differences in readiness were related to three key factors: (1) availability of resources and funding, (2) leadership and partnership working, and (3) community engagement. Participants highlighted perceived barriers relating to access to dental services, competing social priorities, and variability in community knowledge.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study is the first to use the CRM to examine community readiness to address children's oral health and provides a valuable framework for understanding community readiness for oral health improvement that can help direct policymakers and community leaders to maximise the impact of oral health programmes. Findings demonstrated that while oral health need was evident, readiness to act varied across settings and was influenced by contextual and systemic factors. Strengthening availability of resources, communication, leadership, and community engagement is vital to enhance readiness and improve programme effectiveness.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148982343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development and Psychometric Validation of a Brief Oral Health Literacy Instrument for Use in Population-Based Surveillance.","authors":"Viswa Chaitanya Chandu, Manu Raj Mathur, Yamuna Marella, Vikramsimha Bommireddy, Pooja Grandhi","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70115","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Oral health literacy (OHL) plays a critical role in shaping individuals' engagement with oral health systems and their ability to translate information into effective self-care and service use. While the Health Literacy in Dentistry (HeLD-14) scale has demonstrated strong psychometric performance, brief and psychometrically robust instruments explicitly optimized for large-scale surveillance remain limited. This study sought to develop a concise HeLD version that preserves sensitivity to low OHL while remaining operationally feasible for large-scale monitoring.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional psychometric study was conducted among 600 adults aged 18-65 years from diverse sociodemographic backgrounds. A sequential, theory-informed analytic approach was applied, encompassing Item Response Theory (graded response model), principal axis factoring (PAF) using polychoric correlations, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Items were prioritized based on discrimination and location parameters to enhance sensitivity at the lower end of the latent OHL continuum, while structural coherence and shared variance guided further refinement. The shortened versions were recalibrated using θ estimation and their classification concordance compared with that of the original HeLD-14.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>IRT-based evaluation reduced the item pool from 14 to 8 (HeLD-8), retaining items with strong discrimination and threshold locations informative at the lower end of the oral health literacy continuum. Principal axis factoring using polychoric correlations confirmed that all eight retained items exceeded the pre-specified communality threshold, supporting a coherent unidimensional structure; HeLD-8 was therefore retained in full as the final candidate instrument. Confirmatory factor analysis in two independent split-half samples supported this unidimensional structure, with acceptable-to-good fit indices. HeLD-8 showed strong concordance with the full HeLD-14 in identifying individuals with low OHL (sensitivity 92.1%, specificity 93.5%), while reducing respondent burden by more than 40% relative to the parent instrument.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>A brief oral health literacy screener, HeLD-8, was developed and psychometrically validated to support identification of low OHL within population-based surveillance contexts. By preserving representation across most of the original instrument's conceptual domains while substantially reducing respondent burden, HeLD-8 may facilitate integration of OHL assessment into large-scale oral health surveillance systems; further validation in independent and more diverse samples is recommended.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148982361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Kā pao te tōrea: Opportunities to Improve Oral Health Services for Māori.","authors":"J Kuramaiki Lacey, Esther J Willing, Susan M Moffat, Kate C Morgaine","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70114","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Colonisation continues to shape Indigenous health outcomes today. Māori are the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, and experience barriers to accessing care and a greater prevalence of dental caries, periodontal diseases, and tooth loss compared with non-Māori. This study investigated how Māori adults want oral healthcare services to be delivered in their community.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Participants who lived in Rotorua (affiliated to Ngāti Whakaue hapū and Te Arawa iwi) were invited to a wānanga, facilitated by two Māori dental practitioners from the hapū, to explore experiences of services and barriers, and opportunities to improve oral health service delivery for Māori adults. Thematic analysis was conducted. Participant voices were centred to ensure that solutions were culturally responsive.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Seventeen whānau members participated. Five themes were identified: (1) childhood experiences influence engagement as adults; (2) culturally safe oral healthcare; (3) access to the Māori oral health workforce; (4) world-class iwi and hapū kaupapa Māori facility; and (5) iwi-led oral health data to drive service delivery. The themes highlighted an urgent need for changes in oral health service delivery for Māori communities, as well as the importance of Māori community strengths.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Oral health services should deliver care in a culturally safe environment that upholds Māori knowledge and tikanga. There is a need for Māori-led dental services, as well as innovative approaches to grow the Māori oral health workforce. Evidence-based approaches are required to ensure that service delivery is responding to community realities. Iwi- and hapū-led data collection mechanisms could help to achieve this.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148982312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global Oral Health Birth Cohort Studies: A Living Scoping Review.","authors":"Fernando Valentim Bitencourt, Shilpa Sarawagi, Silas Alves-Costa, Gustavo G Nascimento, Karen Glazer Peres","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70108","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>In 2020, a scoping review mapped the existing Oral Health Birth Cohort Studies (OHBCS). Given the rapid growth and disparate nature of this field, this living scoping review aimed to identify new OHBCS and report their findings.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A three-step search strategy was adopted. Studies were searched using the databases PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus, along with the grey literature with no language restrictions. Two independent reviewers screened the studies. OHBCS included those with baseline data collection during pregnancy or within the first year of the child's life or linked future oral health data to exposures during either of these two life stages.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 5374 records, 32 new OHBCS from 16 countries (Northern Ireland and Scotland as part of the UK), comprising 184 studies, were identified. These were categorized as OHBCS with a single oral health publication (n = 17), OHBCS with two or more oral health publications (n = 10), cohorts nested within interventional studies (n = 2) and data linkage cohorts (n = 3). Most of the OHBCS (66%) were established in very high Human Development Index (HDI) countries. OHBCS, with a single publication, included participants from birth to 15, with participation rates ranging from 14.6% to 100.0%. Similarly, those with two or more publications, nested interventions, or data linkage had participation rates ranging from 13.3% to 99.4% by age 6. The most commonly reported primary outcomes were dental caries (n = 18), enamel defect/hypomineralization (n = 9), and oral microbiome (n = 5).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The review highlights the rapid growth of new OHBCs, particularly in very high-human development countries and identifies emerging approaches in genetics and microbiome research. Efforts should encourage new OHBCS in low- and middle-income countries and support engagement in pooled analyses. Initiatives by GLOBICS (Global Consortium of Oral Health Birth Cohort Studies) may help define critical actions to leverage new and well-established OHBCS.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148905260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Meaningful Community Engagement-The Foundations of Global Oral Health Research.","authors":"Richard G Watt, Mirai Chatterjee, Michelle Stennett, Regina Mutave, Paulo Sávio Angeiras de Goes, Manu Mathur, Abhishek Mehta, Luis-Alberto Sánchez-Alfaro, Maria-Kamila Navarro Ramirez, Starry John D'Cruz, Susan Thomas, Rajeev Basapathy Rudrappa, Alastair Ross, David I Conway, Teddy Kyalo Kitili, Carolina Thaiza Costa Pazos, Carol C Guarnizo-Herreño","doi":"10.1111/cdoe.70102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.70102","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The global burden of oral diseases and shocking inequalities highlight the failure of current oral health systems and policies. One of the limitations with existing approaches is that they rely almost exclusively on professional perspectives with minimal input from communities, and in particular disadvantaged populations. As a consequence, interventions often fail to achieve sustained improvements and have limited impact in reducing inequalities. Within global health, there is growing recognition of the importance of meaningful community engagement in all aspects of policy, practice and research. The CORE global oral health research programme is being conducted in four middle-income countries (Brazil, India, Colombia and Kenya) and an innovative element is that the planned research will be informed by community engagement with disadvantaged communities. Through a process of co-design, local communities will be actively involved in designing, implementing and evaluating interventions. The planned community engagement activities include community mapping, establishment of community forums, appointment of community link workers and community outreach activities including visual and performing arts events. The aim of this commentary is to critically review the policy context and principles of community engagement, and to reflect on insights gained through the initial engagement activities undertaken as part of the CORE programme.</p>","PeriodicalId":10580,"journal":{"name":"Community dentistry and oral epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148886128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}