Cost-effective interventions on oral health

The recent World Health Assembly resolution WHA 74.5 on oral health requested the WHO Director-General to develop “best buys” interventions on oral health, as part of an updated Appendix 3 of the WHO Global action plan on the prevention and control of NCDs and integrated into the WHO Universal health coverage (UHC) Intervention Compendium. 

As part of the 2022 update of Appendix 3 of the GAP-NCD, 2 interventions relating to oral cancer screening and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxation incorporate oral health into the modelling. The update is due to be considered by the World Health Assembly in 2023.

Work is ongoing to develop other models for cost-effective interventions on oral health. It is anticipated that these will be made available by 2024 and incorporated into future updates to Appendix 3 of the GAP-NCD.

Oral health and the UHC Compendium

As part of the wider WHO programme to develop the UHC Compendium, work is ongoing to further define and refine oral health actions to inform the oral health module of the compendium.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty that entered into force in 2017 to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. This Convention requires that countries that are parties to it implement measures to phase down the use of dental amalgam, a dental restorative material that is 50% mercury by weight.

In 2021, WHO organized an informal consultation with policy-makers in the field of dental public health to better understand progress in phasing down the use of dental amalgam at global, regional, and national levels. Following the consultation, the Report of the informal global WHO consultation with policymakers in dental public health, 2021: monitoring country progress in phasing down the use of dental amalgam was published. The consultation showed that effective, cost-effective and simple-to-use mercury-free alternatives to dental amalgam are increasingly available.

Furthermore, WHO published a series of briefing notes on Prevention and treatment of dental caries with mercury-free products and minimal intervention.

Noma is a necrotizing disease that destroys the mouth and face, affecting mostly children between the ages of 2 and 6 years who suffer from malnutrition and live in extreme poverty mostly in Africa, but has also been reported in other regions such as South-East Asia. Without prompt treatment, the acute phase of noma is devastating and is often fatal that 90% of patients die of sepsis or severe dehydration and malnutrition within two weeks of the onset of noma. Children who survive the disease are often left with serious aesthetic and functional consequences that can include disfigurement, impairments in breathing, swallowing, speaking and vision, and definitive mouth closure, which further leads to their social isolation, stigmatization, discrimination and to violations of their human rights.