CDA Essentials 2019 • Volume 6 • Issue 7

18 | 2019 | Issue 7 CDA at W ork Oral Health Around theWorld The FDI Congress is an opportunity to consider how Canada fits into the larger picture of dentistry worldwide and to track how global forces are affecting oral health at home and abroad. Among the work FDI does to promote oral health on a global scale, the organization produces many resources, including FDI Vision 2020 . Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease and childhood disease in the world, and it represent a major global public health problem affecting individuals, health systems and economies. Tooth decay is entirely preventable and is caused by exposure to sugar and other risk factors. According to FDI, “Excessive sugars intake causes serious dependence and quitting sugars consumption leads to withdrawal symptoms similar to withdrawal frommorphine or nicotine.” Over the past 50 years, worldwide sugar consumption has tripled, and is expected to continue to grow, especially in emerging economies. “Poor oral health remains a major issue in all countries and major inequalities in oral health exist both within and between countries, despite the fact that most oral disease is readily preventable through simple and effective means,” according to FDI Vision 2020 . Reasons for these disparities include an unequal geographical distribution of qualified professionals worldwide and within countries, lack of oral health literacy, and the fact that for millions of people dental care is financially out of reach. Oral diseases are the fourth most expensive to treat. In the US, each year US$110 billion is spent on oral health care. In the EU, annual spending on oral health care was estimated at €79 billion in the years 2008–2012, which is more than was spent on cancer care or treating respiratory diseases. There are vulnerable and underserved people in both high-income countries and medium-to-low- income countries. The direct risk factors for oral disease are the same everywhere: an unhealthy diet, particularly one rich in sugars; tobacco use; harmful alcohol use; and poor oral hygiene. But the socio-economic determinants of oral health are more complicated. In many mid-to-low income countries resources are often put toward urgent rather than chronic health problems and there are very few dental professionals. In high- income counties, often the poor and uninsured have difficulty accessing care, and there is an emphasis on treating rather than preventing oral disease. a The Canadian delegation at the 2019 FDI Congress: (L. to r.) Dr. Alexander (Sandy) Mutchmor, CDA president; Dr. James (Jim) Armstrong, CDA president- elect; Dr. Michel (Mitch) Taillon, CDA immediate past-president; and Dr. James (Jim) Tennant, former CDA Board of Director, NWT/ Nunavut/Yukon.