New white paper calls for oral health to be integrated into general healthcare

A new white paper from the EFP and the European Association of Dental Public Health (EADPH) calls for closer collaboration between dental, medical, public-health and social-care professionals.

Oral health and systemic health outcomes: a call for interdisciplinary action brings together evidence from periodontology, medicine and public health. It sets out recommendations for clinical practice, policy, education and research.

Developed by a joint EFP/EADPH working group - with support from Oral-B - the white paper was launched on 3 September at the 2026 Oral Health Research Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, during the symposium “Oral and systemic health - A call to action!”

Oral diseases affect around 3.5 billion people worldwide and share important modifiable risk factors with major non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including free-sugar, tobacco and alcohol consumption. They are also influenced by common social and commercial determinants of health.

The paper argues that this common ground provides a strong case for integrating oral health into broader health strategies through a common risk factor approach, rather than managing diseases in separate silos.

Among oral diseases, periodontitis currently has the strongest evidence of interaction with overall health. Treating periodontitis has been shown to improve glycaemic control in people with diabetes, as well as inflammatory and vascular surrogate markers, although evidence of an effect on major clinical events remains limited.

“Oral health deserves a place within a more integrated approach to patient care,” said Moritz Kebschull, principal author of the paper and past president of the EFP. “Greater awareness, appropriate screening and referral between dental and medical teams could make a meaningful difference to patients.”

The white paper was developed following a joint working group meeting in Frankfurt in January 2026. Experts in periodontology, dental public health, epidemiology and prevention worked alongside public-health stakeholders and representatives of organized medicine to review the evidence and develop consensus recommendations.

Published in Periodontology 2000, the highest ranked journal in periodontology, edited by EFP secretary general Anton Sculean, the paper calls for oral health to be recognized as a public-health priority and embedded within healthcare systems, NCD strategies and universal health coverage. It also recommends incorporating oral health, prevention and interprofessional collaboration into the education of health and social-care professionals.

Reducing inequalities is another priority, with policies and interventions required to address avoidable differences between socioeconomic groups, life stages and vulnerable populations.

“Oral health policy cannot sit apart from wider health policy,” said EFP president Mia Rakić. “This white paper provides policymakers with an evidence-based framework for coordinated action across professions and sectors.”

The paper concludes that integrating oral health into general healthcare will require sustained collaboration among dental and medical professionals, public-health authorities, educators, policymakers, patients and communities.

White paper