WHO Releases The First Complete Picture Of Global Oral Health Status

The World Health Organization (WHO) released its new Global Oral Health Status report, which provides the first comprehensive picture of the global oral disease burden.

The World Health Organization's Global Oral Health Status Report (GOHSR) provides the first complete picture of the oral disease burden and highlights challenges and possibilities to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage (UHC) for oral health.

The GOHSR is part of WHO's series of data releases and a crucial step in mobilizing political action and resources for oral health. In line with the landmark World Health Assembly resolution WHA74.5 on oral health (2021) and the Global strategy on oral health (2022), the GOHSR will serve as a reference for policymakers, provide orientation for a diverse range of stakeholders across various sectors, and guide the advocacy process toward better prioritization of oral health at the global, regional, and national levels.

Oral diseases are the most common non-communicable diseases, affecting about half of the world's population (3.5 billion people), although being mainly preventable. The estimated global number of cases of oral diseases exceeds that of the five major NCDs (mental disorders, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and malignancies) combined. Untreated dental caries (tooth decay) alone affects an estimated 2.5 billion people. Globally, the occurrence of oral illnesses is increasing faster than population growth.

The first-ever oral health profiles of countries are presented in this report, based on the most recent available data from the Worldwide Burden of Disease (GBD) project, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and global WHO surveys.

The WHO report includes data on the caseload and mortality rates of oral diseases in 194 countries, as well as how prevalence differs around the world. According to the survey, roughly 45% or 3.5 billion individuals worldwide are impacted by oral illness at some point in their lives, with tooth decay or loss, severe gum disease, and oral malignancies being the most frequent. This data backs up the World Health Assembly's earlier this year established the objective of universal oral health care coverage by 2030.

The full report can be accessed here.