"Inadequate" health response leaves 3.5 billion people with poor dental care | Society

Scientists call for a radical reform of dental care, stricter regulation of the sugar industry and greater transparency of conflicts of interest in dental research to combat the growing and growing number oral diseases such as oral cancers.

In a challenge to the global health community, a Lancet medical journal series claims that 3.5 billion people with oral diseases have been abandoned.

Oral diseases include tooth decay, gum disease and oral cancer and affect nearly half of the world's population. Untreated tooth decay is the most common health condition in the world. The researchers say that cancers of the lips and oral cavity are among the 15 most common cancers in the world.

"Dentistry is in crisis," said Professor Richard Watt, president and honorary consultant in dental public health at University College London and lead author of the series. "Current dental and public health interventions have been largely inadequate, unfair and costly, leaving billions of people without access to even basic oral health care.

"While this break in the delivery of oral health care is not the fault of individual dental clinicians determined to take care of their patients, a fundamentally different approach is needed to effectively address the global burden of oral disease." . "

According to researchers, high-tech treatments have taken precedence over prevention in rich countries like the UK. Around the world, the strong marketing of sugar-sweetened beverages is causing increasing damage to dental health, they say.

By 2020, Coca-Cola intends to spend $ 12 billion (9.5 billion pounds sterling) to market its products throughout Africa, while the total annual budget of WHO rose to $ 4.4 billion in 2017.

Watt said, "The consumption of sugar is the main cause of tooth decay. The British people consume far too much sugar – much more than the Ministry of Health and the WHO recommend.

"High sugar levels in commercial and processed foods and beverages, which encourage babies and toddlers to develop a preference for sweetness early in life. We need stricter regulations and legislation to limit the marketing and promotion of beverages and sugary foods if we want to tackle the root causes of oral health problems. "

Cristin Kearns of the University of California at San Francisco and Professor Lisa Bero of the University of Sydney warn in a related commentary of the financial links between dental research organizations and the processed food and food industries. drinks.

"New evidence of industry's influence on research programs suggests that leading food and beverage brands view financial relationships with dental research institutes as an opportunity to focus on applications." Commercial interventions for tooth decay, such as xylitol, fluoride toothpaste and sugar-free chewing gum instruction – while diverting attention from the damage caused by their sugary products, "they write.