Half the world is affected by oral disease – here’s how we can tackle this unmet healthcare need

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Charlotte Edmond, Senior Writer, Forum Agenda

• Oral diseases affect 1 billion more people than many other major diseases combined.
• An estimated $710 billion a year is spent on oral treatment costs and productivity losses.
• Healthcare systems need to invest in oral health and it’s disproportionately affecting the world’s most vulnerable people, says a new report from the World Economic Forum.

Almost half the world’s population is affected by oral diseases, and the number of cases is growing faster than the population. There are around a billion more cases of oral disease globally than cases of mental disorders, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and all cancers combined, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Oral disease puts people at greater risk of other diseases with links to diabetes, stroke and respiratory conditions. And it costs an estimated $710 billion a year in direct treatment costs and productivity losses.

But despite this, oral health remains a neglected global challenge – and it’s disproportionately affecting the world’s most vulnerable people.

To tackle these challenges, the World Economic Forum launched the Oral Health Affinity Group (OHAG) in 2023 under the Forum’s Global Health Equity Network – a group of more than 50 companies committed to advancing health equity to create stronger and more productive societies.

A new report by the group, titled ‘The Economic Rationale for a Global Commitment to Invest in Oral Health’, explores the economic rationale for investing in oral health and why healthcare systems need to consider the mouth alongside the rest of the body.

Almost half the world is affected by oral diseases. Image: WHO

Why is the oral health need unmet?

There are multiple reasons for this high level of unmet oral health needs. In part, it is policy-related: dental care is often not treated as an essential healthcare need in the same way as other physical health complaints.

Most healthcare services – including those where care is mainly publicly funded – tend to treat oral health separately from rest-of-the-body health. Dental care is typically seen as a discretionary, privately financed healthcare service. This, in turn, leads to affordability issues.

Why is good oral health important?

Oral diseases are linked to a wide range of health issues, including diabetes, stroke, dementia, and heart disease, as well as mental health and pregnancy outcomes. So better oral health, in turn, reduces health spending elsewhere and affects health outcomes.

However, by treating dental care as a separate issue from rest-of-body care – often in entirely different locations—the connection between oral health and health more broadly is often underappreciated.

The impact of poor oral health also extends beyond the healthcare system. It leads to lost school days and working time and impacts productivity. This impact is more pronounced for low-income, vulnerable populations, meaning improving the oral healthcare system can also help close health equity gaps.

What can we do about the oral health issue?

The OHAG report recommends several strategies to start tackling the problem. This includes actions by governments to create policies which help make dental services more affordable, such as integrating oral care within public health insurance programmes and universal health coverage policies.

Governments also have a role to play in improving oral health literacy, partnering with other organizations to advocate for better oral health.

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What is the World Economic Forum doing to improve healthcare systems?

The Global Health and Strategic Outlook 2023 highlighted that there will be an estimated shortage of 10 million healthcare workers worldwide by 2030.

The World Economic Forum’s Centre for Health and Healthcare works with governments and businesses to build more resilient, efficient and equitable healthcare systems that embrace new technologies.

Learn more about our impact:

• Global vaccine delivery: Our contribution to COVAX resulted in the delivery of over 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines and our efforts in launching Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has helped save more than 13 million lives over the past 20 years.
• Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative: Through this collaborative initiative, we are working to accelerate progress in the discovery, testing and delivery of interventions for Alzheimer’s – building a cohort of 1 million people living with the disease who provide real-world data to researchers worldwide.
• Mental health policy: In partnership with Deloitte, we developed a comprehensive toolkit to assist lawmakers in crafting effective policies related to technology for mental health.
• Global Coalition for Value in Healthcare: We are fostering a sustainable and equitable healthcare industry by launching innovative healthcare hubs to address ineffective spending on global health. In the Netherlands, for example, it has provided care for more than 3,000 patients with type 1 diabetes and enrolled 69 healthcare providers who supported 50,000 mothers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• UHC2030 Private Sector Constituency: This collaboration with 30 diverse stakeholders plays a crucial role in advocating for universal health coverage and emphasizing the private sector’s potential to contribute to achieving this ambitious goal.

Want to know more about our centre’s impact or get involved? Contact us.

The private sector, meanwhile, can have a positive impact on oral health by ensuring affordable access to fluoride toothpaste, oral hygiene products, and other products beneficial to oral health. It can also promote research and development into alternatives to products that are bad for oral health, such as sugary foods and drinks.

Companies should ensure that employer-provided insurance programmes include oral healthcare services.

The report also highlights the importance of civil society and how philanthropic investment in oral health activities can support health systems and improve the evidence base for oral health policy.