King's College London Launches The First Global Initiative To Improve Child Oral Health

Main Category: Dentistry
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 05 Mar 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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Dental disease is reaching unprecedented proportions in many countries and King's College London is spearheading the first global initiative aimed at improving child oral health. At today's inaugural Global Child Dental Health Taskforce conference (4th-9th March) 22 world leading dental and public health specialists will explore how to eliminate dental decay in children within 20 years.

The taskforce is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and is led by Professor Raman Bedi of King's College London's Dental Institute. At the conference, world dental leaders will debate how they can most effectively influence major system change for the way dental services are provided.

The initiative is already underway in nine countries including China, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United States, reaching out to over one billion children and their parents. It expects to encompass 30 countries within the next few years and is responding to the fragmented global burden of oral disease. For example, 50% of UK children leave school never having had a filling whereas in Saudi Arabia, more than 90% of school leavers have a dental cavity. The taskforce will influence and harmonise national oral health programmes via the sharing and development of cutting edge preventive strategies.

Delivering his opening address at the conference, Professor Bedi, who is a former Chief Dental Officer for England (2002-5) says: 'Over the past decade, dental decay has reached unacceptable proportions across many parts of the world. This is due to rising sugar consumption and inadequate exposure to fluorides. For example, in the Philippines it is estimated that one in four children has toothache every day.'

Professor Bedi continues: 'Every child in the world deserves good oral health. Yet dental decay remains the most common childhood disease with every other child across the world suffering a cavity. Child oral health is often treated as low priority or even overlooked within healthcare planning. The irony is that effective preventive measures are well proven and we believe that via a collaborative international approach we can considerably reduce and even eliminate dental cavities in children.'

Dr Poul Erik Petersen, Director of the WHO Global Oral Health Programme, comments: 'Despite great improvements in the oral health of populations in several countries, global problems persist. The burden of oral disease is particularly high for the disadvantaged and poor population groups in both developing and developed countries. So the need to give higher priority to oral health issues is a must in most countries around the world with the child population a major target.'

For further information, log onto:
www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/dentistry/research/gcdht

*The Global Child Dental Health Taskforce

The Global Child Dental Health Taskforce was established in January 2006 after 40 senior dental advisors and chief dental officers called for its formation at a 2005 European Union Presidency meeting. A key part of its strategy is to build a global network of national taskforces headed up by local, leading senior dental and public health specialists who work together to spearhead drives to improve oral health by developing cutting edge preventive strategies. The initial network includes nine national taskforce members - Australia, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United States. Significantly, these countries represent 50% of the world's child population which equates to over 1 billion children.[1]

King's College London Dental Institute

King's College London Dental Institute at Guy's, King's College and St Thomas' Hospitals is the largest dental academic centre in the UK, with over 750 undergraduate dental students, 100 postgraduate taught students and 50 research students. As well as providing both routine and specialist clinical care, it educates and trains dental personnel at all levels including dental care professionals. The Dental Institute's internationally renowned faculty undertake cutting edge basic, clinical and translational research in collaboration with its associate hospitals. The Dental Institute was awarded the maximum 5* research rating grade in the last research assessment exercise and received the top teaching score of 24/24 in its Teaching Quality Assessment. www.kcl.ac.uk/dentistry

King's College London

King's College London is the fourth oldest university in England with more than 13,700 undergraduates and nearly 5,600 graduate students in nine schools of study based at five London campuses. It is a member of the Russell Group: a coalition of the UK's major research-based universities. The College has had 24 of its subject-areas awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level, and it has recently received an excellent result in its audit by the Quality Assurance Agency.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, international relations, medicine, nursing and the sciences, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres - more than any other university.

King's is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings, with income from grants and contracts of more than £100 million, and has an annual turnover of more than £363 million. www.kcl.ac.uk

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