Oral disease must be central in policies to improve global health

Strategies are outdated and siloed, driving long term health harms Oral diseases affect almost one in two people worldwide1 and negatively affect quality of life, resulting in substantial financial and social burden across all countries. But in the global health policy discourse they remain largely ignored. Oral diseases were not mentioned in the recently released zero draft of the political declaration for the 2025 United Nations high level meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs).2 This omission has deep roots. Dentistry and medicine evolved as separate professions, creating educational and institutional silos that left oral health seen as specialised but not integral to overall health or health systems.3 In 2021, the World Health Assembly, the decision making body of all 193 World Health Organization (WHO) member states, adopted a resolution on oral health after 14 years of silence.4 A global oral health status report, the global strategy on oral health, and the development of a global action plan followed.56 In 2024, more than 100 countries endorsed the Bangkok declaration on universal health coverage for …