Is Australia’s lack of national clinical leadership hampering efforts with the oral health policy agenda?
Tan Minh Nguyen
A B C * , Amit Arora D , Sneha Sethi E , Danielle Justine Gavanescu F , Ruth Heredia B , Ben Scully B , Clare Lin B and Martin Hall B
A Deakin Health Economics, Deakin University, Level 3, Building BC, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Vic. 3125, Australia.
B Dental Health Services Victoria, Level 1, Corporate Services, 720 Swanston Street, Carlton, Vic. 3053, Australia.
C Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Level 4, 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne Vic. 3004, Australia.
D School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Narellan Road & Gilchrist Drive, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia.
E Indigenous Oral Health Unit, Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, The University of Adelaide, Level 9, Adelaide Health & Medical Sciences Building, SA 5005, Australia.
F School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.
Australian Health Review 47(2) 192-196 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH22278
Submitted: 1 December 2022 Accepted: 26 January 2023 Published: 9 February 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA.
Abstract
The landmark 2021 Resolution on Oral Health by the 74th World Health Assembly has elevated the importance of oral health into the global health policy agenda. This has led to the development and adoption of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy on Oral Health in 2022. It acknowledged the need to integrate oral health as part of universal health coverage (UHC), which is supported by national clinical leadership for oral health. Although Australia is a signatory WHO member state, it is yet to appoint a Commonwealth Chief Dental Officer to provide national clinical leadership. This commentary provides a background on the current issues on population oral health in Australia, an insight into the Australian oral healthcare system, and explores some of the challenges and learnings related to previous Commonwealth dental programs. This paper highlights why expertise in dental public health is required to steer national oral health policy that is focused on prevention and early intervention. A population oral health approach for UHC should be informed by evidence, prioritise and address oral health inequities, and be co-ordinated by national clinical leadership for oral health.
Keywords: clinical leadership, cost effectiveness, health and social policy, oral health, primary health care, public health dentistry, universal health care, World Health Organization.
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