HONG KONG, Aug. 30, 2012
/PRNewswire/ — 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 Geneva-based FDI
World Dental Federation, the principal representative body for more than 1
million dental practitioners worldwide.
Oral disease affects already most
adults globally and as many as 90% of the world’s schoolchildren, according to
FDI, which released the report, called Vision 2020, at its annual Congress,
being held this year in Hong Kong. Oral disease, which includes everything from
cavities and periodontics to oral cancer, is the fourth most expensive disease
to treat and also one of the most preventable.
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
health care.
“Oral health is an essential
component of overall health, and there is a growing realization of the
connection between oral disease and other chronic and potentially fatal
diseases,” said Dr. Orlando Monteiro da Silva, the president of FDI and an oral
physician based in Lisbon. “Risk factors for oral diseases are the same as for
many of the most common non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease,
diabetes and other chronic diseases. As oral disease escalates, we can expect
to see a greater incidence of all the associated diseases, at great cost to
society. We must act now if we hope to deal with the crisis by 2020.”
FDI’s five-point plan includes
the following: 1) Expanding access to care; 2) Expanding the role of existing
oral health care professionals; 3) Closing the gap between dental education and
medical education; 4) Mitigating the impact on oral health care from variations
in economic growth; and 5) Improving the implementation of oral research
findings into daily practice.
The disparity in access to oral
health care is stark. In Croatia, for example, there is one oral health care
professional for every 560 people, and in the United States, one for every
2,200 people. But in China, there’s just one oral health care 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.
“Major inequalities in oral
health care exist both within and between countries, and it is urgent that the
worlds of oral health and overall medical health come together to address a crisis
that is compromising our quality of life and costing us far too much money at a
time when national budgets are strapped,” said Dr. Michael Glick, the dean of
the School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo and the leader of
FDI’s Vision 2020 Task Force. “These numbers highlight how far we have to go to
provide basic oral care to most of the world.”
The Vision 2020 report represents
an evolution in the mission of FDI, which was founded 112 years ago. As the
oral health care crisis mounts, FDI increasingly is shifting its role to serve
as a public policy advocate for oral health care, beyond its more traditional
role as an organizer of industry meetings and congresses. Coincident with the
organization’s 100(th) Annual Congress, FDI is devoting more of its resources
to developing health policy and speaking as a unified voice for the promotion
of oral health care worldwide.
While the dental associations of
individual nations have taken steps to combat oral health inequity, the Vision
2020 effort represents the first time the international dental medicine
community, under the auspices of FDI, has come together to set a direction for
addressing these issues.
“The Vision 2020 report
represents our effort to shape the future of oral health,” said Prof. Tao Xu,
the dean of Peking University School of Stomatology and the representative from
Asia on FDI’s Vision 2020 Task Force. “Our mandate was to identify the main
challenges to expanding access to oral health care at a time when it is more
urgent than ever. This report represents a call to action to ensure that oral
health priorities receive sufficient attention and resources to combat the
spread of oral disease.”
The other members of the Vision
2020 Task Force include Dr. Monteiro de Silva; Dr. Gerhard Konrad Seeburger,
national liaison officer, Associazione Italiana Odontoiatri; Dr. Gilberto
Pucca, national coordinator, Oral Health Program – Brazil; Prof. David
Williams, professor of global oral health at Barts and the London School of
Medicine and Dentistry; and Steve Kess, vice president, global professional
relations, Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC).
For access to the full report,
please click on the following link: http://www.fdiworldental.org/documents/10157/e5a69514-515e-401a-b6cc-838be48955ae
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