Oral diseases affect about 3.5 billion people around the world. As well as impacting health, they also affect overall well-being and quality of life, especially where resources for prevention, diagnosis and treatment are limited. Approaches based on new digital health technologies can contribute to better oral health for all. In the context of the Be He@lthy Be Mobile initiative, the World Health Organization and the International Telecommunication Union have developed "Mobile technologies for oral health: an implementation guide." This new resource provides guidance on promoting oral health, training health workers, detecting oral health conditions, collecting epidemiological data, and monitoring the quality of patient care, all through mobile technologies. It will help countries develop and implement mOralHealth programmes to complement existing oral health programmes. The handbook is intended to assist policy- and decision-makers and implementers to realize a national or large-scale mOralHealth programme.

The landmark resolution WHA74.5 (2021) on oral health requested WHO to develop, by 2022, a draft global strategy on tackling oral diseases for consideration by WHO governing bodies in 2022 and by 2023; to translate the global strategy into an action plan for oral health. The Global Oral Health Action Plan provides concrete guidance to progress the oral health agenda in countries and proposes a monitoring framework with targets to track progress towards 2030. Combined, these policy documents set the Global oral health agenda towards 2030 with the action plan at the centre, as it translates how to achieve the ambition set out in the strategy and the mandate of the Resolution on oral health. The Global strategy and action plan on oral health 2023-2030 is aligned with the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013–2030 and pillars 1 and 3 of WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work.

Even in the modern age, oral diseases have a substantial and negative impact on citizens all over the globe. Oral diseases affect nearly half of the global population and represent a significant economic and health burden. As a result, the promotion of oral health and disease prevention information has emerged as one of the most cost-effective strategies in limiting these maladies and treating them should they occur. Leveraging Digital Technology for Preventive Dentistry provides relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area. It discusses the latest findings in digital technologies for health promotion and oral disease promotion, as well as the behavior of these health actions in the international context. Covering topics such as ethical and legal aspects, preventive dentistry, and biometric studies, this book is an excellent resource for librarians, dentists, dental students and educators, researchers, academicians, and more.

The Global Oral Health Status Report reviews the most recent data on major oral diseases, risk factors and health system challenges and opportunities for reform. The report also introduces the first-ever country oral health profiles with key health and oral health information for each WHO Member State. The report’s clear conclusion is the status of global oral health is alarming and requires urgent action. The report will serve as a reference for policymakers and an orientation for a wide range of stakeholders across different sectors to guide advocacy towards better prioritization of oral health in global, regional and national contexts

Interest in implementation research is growing, largely in recognition of the contribution it can make to maximizing the beneficial impact of health interventions. As a relatively new and, until recently, rather neglected field within the health sector, implementation research is something of an unknown quantity for many. There is therefore a need for greater clarity about what exactly implementation research is, and what it can offer. This Guide is designed to provide that clarity. Intended to support those conducting implementation research, those with responsibility for implementing programs, and those who have an interest in both, the Guide provides an introduction to basic implementation research concepts and language, briefly outlines what it involves, and describes the many opportunities that it presents. The main aim of the Guide is to boost implementation research capacity as well as demand for implementation research that is aligned with need, and that is of particular relevance to health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Research on implementation requires the engagement of diverse stakeholders and multiple disciplines in order to address the complex implementation challenges they face. For this reason, the Guide is intended for a variety of actors who contribute to and/or are impacted by implementation research. This includes the decision-makers responsible for designing policies and managing programs whose decisions shape implementation and scale-up processes, as well as the practitioners and front-line workers who ultimately implement these decisions along with researchers from different disciplines who bring expertise in systematically collecting and analyzing information to inform implementation questions. The opening chapters (1-4) make the case for why implementation research is important to decision-making. They offer a workable definition of implementation research and illustrate the relevance of research to problems that are often considered to be simply administrative and provide examples of how such problems can be framed as implementation research questions. The early chapters also deal with the conduct of implementation research, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and discussing the role of implementers in the planning and designing of studies, the collection and analysis of data, as well as in the dissemination and use of results. The second half of the Guide (5-7) detail the various methods and study designs that can be used to carry out implementation research, and, using examples, illustrates the application of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method designs to answer complex questions related to implementation and scale-up. It offers guidance on conceptualizing an implementation research study from the identification of the problem, development of research questions, identification of implementation outcomes and variables, as well as the selection of the study design and methods while also addressing important questions of rigor.

Access to oral health care is essential to promoting and maintaining overall health and well-being, yet only half of the population visits a dentist each year. Poor and minority children are less likely to have access to oral health care than are their nonpoor and nonminority peers. Older adults, people who live in rural areas, and disabled individuals, uniformly confront access barriers, regardless of their financial resources. The consequences of these disparities in access to oral health care can lead to a number of conditions including malnutrition, childhood speech problems, infections, diabetes, heart disease, and premature births. Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations examines the scope and consequences of inadequate access to oral health services in the United States and recommends ways to combat the economic, structural, geographic, and cultural factors that prevent access to regular, quality care. The report suggests changing funding and reimbursement for dental care; expanding the oral health work force by training doctors, nurses, and other nondental professionals to recognize risk for oral diseases; and revamping regulatory, educational, and administrative practices. It also recommends changes to incorporate oral health care into overall health care. These recommendations support the creation of a diverse workforce that is competent, compensated, and authorized to serve vulnerable and underserved populations across the life cycle. The recommendations provided in Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations will help direct the efforts of federal, state, and local government agencies; policy makers; health professionals in all fields; private and public health organizations; licensing and accreditation bodies; educational institutions; health care researchers; and philanthropic and advocacy organizations.