Oral Health New universal definition unveiled by FDI

“This new definition is an important milestone for the oral health profession,” said Dr Patrick Hescot, FDI President. “True to our vision 2020 advocacy strategy and our ambition to lead the wold to optimal oral health, the new definition will allow us to develop standardised assessment and measurement tools for consistent data collection on a global level.”

The changes to the definition were discussed at length at the AWDC with significant contribution from the ADA delegation.

As defined by FD, oral health:

Is multi-faceted and includes, but is not limited to, the ability to speak, smile, smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow and convey a range of emotions through facial expressions with confidence and free form pain or discomfort, and disease of the craniofacial complex.

Further attributes related to the definition state that oral health:

• Is a fundamental component of health and physical and mental wellbeing, which exists along a continuum influenced by the values and attitudes of individuals and communities,
• Reflects the physiological, social and psychological attributes that are essential to the quality of life,
• Is influenced by the individual’s changing experience, perceptions, expectations and ability to adapt to circumstances.

The new oral health definition is the result of a wider consultation which included patients, oral health professionals, NDAs, the public health community, academia, government, and industry and third-party payers.

“With this new definition, we want to raise awareness of the different dimensions of oral health and emphasise that oral health does not occur in isolation, but is embedded in the wider framework of overall health” said Professor David Williams, Co-Chair of FDI’s Vison 2020 Think Tank.

“We are proposing a contemporary definition of oral health, which resonates with that used by many NDAs and the World Health Organisation” said Professor Michael Glick, Co-Chair of FDS’s Vision 2020 Think Tank. “It is therefore not a revolution, but an evolution.”

FDI plans to widely disseminate this oral health definition and advocate for its operationalisation to establish a standard measurement instrument that can be applied across countries. A measurement toolbox will be ready in 2017 to allow for assessment of individual and population needs that can inform and drive oral health policies.

Source: Australian Dental Association News Bulletin