WHO’s Blueprint for a Global Oral Health Plan (2023-2030)

According to WHO:

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Oral diseases are the most common noncommunicable diseases worldwide. They both share common risk factors like tobacco use, alcohol consumption, increased sugar intake and lack of exclusive breastfeeding

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Approximately 3.5 billion people are affected by oral diseases

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This burden is increasingly being borne by low and middle-income countries and susceptible populations, adding to their increased financial burden

On 26th May 2025, the WHO released its global strategy and action plan for oral health for the period 2023 – 2030. This plan has been put together to address the growing concern of oral diseases and their burden on the general health and well-being of individuals across the world.

WHO’s Blueprint for a Global Oral Health Plan (2023-2030)

Vision

Universal health coverage for oral health by 2030, easily and equally accessible to all individuals worldwide, ensuring healthy and productive lives.

Main Goal

The goal of this plan is to guide member states to develop frameworks to improve and promote good oral health through awareness and preventive programs, reduce the incidence of oral conditions and diseases, work towards including oral health and conditions as part of universal health coverage (UHC), and formulate country-specific targets and indicators per the WHO’s Global Oral Health Plans.

Global Targets

The WHO has set 11 ambitious targets that it hopes to achieve by 2030. They are:

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80% of the global population is entitled to essential oral health services

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10% reduction in the global prevalence of oral diseases and conditions

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80% of countries have an operational national oral health policy, strategy or action plan and dedicated staff for oral health at the Ministry of Health or other national government agency

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50% of countries have a national fluoride delivery program

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90% of countries have implemented measures to phase down the use of dental amalgam or have phased it out

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50% of countries have policies and measures in place to reduce the intake of free sugars

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50% of countries have an operational national health workforce policy, plan or strategy that includes a workforce trained to respond to population oral health needs

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80% of countries have accessible oral healthcare services in primary healthcare facilities

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50% of countries include dental preparations listed in the WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines in their national essential medicines list

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80% of countries have a monitoring framework for the national oral health policy, strategy, or action plan

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50% of countries have a national oral health research agenda focused on public health and population-based interventions

Broad Implications of the Plan

The WHO Global Oral Health Plan has numerous implications for the oral health of people worldwide, including member states and various stakeholders such as policymakers, primary health centres, and dentists. Let’s study them here.

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Inclusion and integration of essential oral health care into Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to improve access and affordability to oral health services for all populations

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Making a paradigm shift from a curative to a more preventive approach to dealing with oral and noncommunicable diseases. This approach helps address common risk factors like the use of tobacco and related products, alcohol consumption, increased intake of sugar and poor oral hygiene. It also helps to formulate plans and strategies to promote oral health, reduce intake of processed foods, community fluoride programs and other preventive measures.

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Acknowledging that there are huge disparities in access to basic oral healthcare for low-income populations, people with disabilities, senior citizens, people living in remote and rural areas, refugees and marginalised communities.

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Developing a robust, well-trained, motivated and well-distributed workforce that can meet the oral healthcare needs of people at all levels.

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The plan encourages the efficient use of water and energy resources, advocates the use of environmentally safe oral care products and consumables, promotes sustainable waste management, and gradually phasing down the use of mercury-containing dental amalgam.

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Strategic use of artificial intelligence, mobile devices and digital technologies for the advancement of oral health and awareness programs—as increasingly used in AI-assisted dental diagnostics and planning tools for treatments like digital smile design explained here, e-training, early detection of oral diseases and surveillance.

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The plan aims to reduce the burden of oral disease by 10% worldwide and ensure that 80% of the population has access to essential oral healthcare by 2030. These are measurable targets that will require a reliable monitoring framework to track progress.

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It encourages dental research on public and community aspects of oral health, aimed at awareness programs, mass screenings and cost-effective interventions.

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A public health approach to oral health calls for active participation from all stakeholders, including public, private, health, education and environmental sectors.

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The WHO encourages member states to use the oral health goals and objectives as a framework for their own guidelines and strategies and the development of national oral health policies.

Conclusion

The WHO global oral health goals acknowledge that oral health is an integral part of general health and well-being. It also emphasises the growing incidence of oral diseases worldwide, accounting for US$ 545 billion in direct and indirect costs, leading to loss of productivity, workplace absenteeism and a reduced quality of life.

The emphasis is on preventive oral care rather than curative methods. Public health programs, digital technologies and oral health awareness campaigns are the need of the hour. The WHO also calls for increased involvement of government health bodies in making oral healthcare available to all populations and the need to have a robust workforce trained adequately to manage the growing oral health needs of member countries.

Read the full article here: https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/376623/9789240090538-eng.pdf?sequence=1