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Beyond Advocacy to Action for Oral Health: The Key Role of Civil Society

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2023 IADR/LAR General Session with WCPD

The 2023 IADR/LAR General Session & Exhibition with WCPD provided dental, oral, and craniofacial health scientists with the opportunity to present, discuss, and critique their latest and most cutting-edge research at a 100% in-person gathering in Bogotá, Colombia. The meeting was attended by 1,667 individuals from 76 countries.     

The recordings in this library from the meeting are a selection of the science that was presented at the General Session. These recordings give you the opportunity to participate in the meeting and hear from leading researchers. The recordings include IADR Distinguished Lecture Series speakers and symposia from a collection of scientific groups and networks.

This session can be purchased as part of the full meeting recordings within the product bundles





The International Association for Dental Research is an ADA CERP Recognized Provider. ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry. Concerns or complaints about a CE provider may be directed to the provider or to the Commission for Continuing Education Provider Recognition at ADA.org/CERP.
Session Description
Civil Society and the importance of the public voice features very strongly in the WHO global oral health action plan (2023-2030). Under the banner of strategic objective 6, “Oral health research agendas” there are 3 actions that challenge the Oral Health Profession like never before.

Action 92 is a powerful statement calling on the profession to “conduct participatory research to identify oral health needs and interventions” and advises that when considering interventions for inclusion in essential oral healthcare packages and universal health coverage (UHC), we enlist the participation of diverse community members, including patients, people living with oral diseases, and people who are poor, vulnerable or disadvantaged.

It goes further to advocate the establishment of patient-public panels for prioritisation of studies, design and management of research, data collection, analysis, reporting and dissemination of findings. As researchers we should also evaluate different social participation and community engagement approaches to improve oral health.

Actions 90 and 91 are calls to involve a complete array of stakeholders: academia, research institutions, professional associations, government, but also community representatives and patients, aspects often omitted from our research deliberations. It goes on to suggest this could be regarded as an oral health research alliance or task force, and would provide the best forum for implementation research and ensure alignment with national oral health priorities.

This Workshop will be designed to go beyond advocacy and formulate a research action plan that will firmly establish the place of civil society in reshaping the future of the Dental profession, as this cannot be successfully achieved without the public voice.

Learning Objectives
  • Understand how oral health can be regarded as a public good and through this mobilise support for oral health promotion alongside other NCDs
  • Strategize on how participation of diverse community members, including patients, people living with oral diseases, and people who are poor, vulnerable or disadvantaged can be achieved.
  • Formulate protocols for future research with the involement of multiple stakeholders and generate the evidence that better oral health means better overall health, and be both cost-effective and sustainable and translatable into UHC.
Presentation Date
Saturday, June 24, 2023

Session Organizer/Chair
Peter Mossey (Organizer/Chair)
Deborah Weisfuse (Organizer)
Lois Cohen (Chair)

Presenters
  • Benoit Varenne - WHO Needs Research to Demonstrate That Oral Health is a Public Good
  • Lois Cohen - The Role of Social Will in Reinforcing Research Evidence to Change Policy
  • Andrea Rodriguez - Access to the Public Voices of Those Hardest to Get
  • Peter Mossey - Parallel Breakouts: Led by Peter Mossey, Benoit Varenne, Lois Cohen, and Andrea Rodriguez


CE Credits
1.25 Hours

Financial Interest Disclosure:
NONE

Not eligible for individual purchase must purchase as part of a meeting bundle.