New EFP/EADPH white paper calls for oral health to become an integral part of general healthcare

Brussels, 03 September 2026. Oral health can no longer be treated separately from general health, according to a new white paper from the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) and the European Association of Dental Public Health (EADPH) which calls for closer collaboration between dental, medical, public-health and social-care professionals.

Oral health and systemic health outcomes: a call for interdisciplinary action, developed by a joint EFP/ EADPH working group supported by Oral B, brings together evidence from periodontology, medicine and dental public health and sets out recommendations for clinical practice, policy, education and research. The white paper will be launched today at the 2026 Oral Health Research Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, during the symposium “Oral and systemic health – A call to action!” (1).

Oral diseases affect around 3.5 billion people worldwide. The white paper highlights that they share important, modifiable risk factors (including free sugar, tobacco and alcohol consumption, as well as social and commercial determinants) with major non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Inadequate oral hygiene represents an additional oral-specific risk factor.

Authors argue that this common ground makes a strong case for integrating oral health into general health strategies, through a common risk factor approach, rather that managing diseases in separate silos. Action is needed at multiple levels, from policies addressing the wider determinants of health, to community prevention and individual clinical care.

Among oral diseases, periodontitis currently has the strongest evidence for interactions with overall health. Associations have been demonstrated between gum disease and several systemic conditions, although the strength and nature of the evidence vary. Importantly, treatment of periodontitis has been shown to improve glycaemic control in people with diabetes and to improve inflammatory and vascular surrogate markers, while evidence for an effect on major clinical events remains limited.

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