Haleon: Education is a gut feeling

In this year’s series of interviews for the EFP Partner newsletter, the EFP is looking at the link between lifestyle, nutrition, and oral health synergies and systemic health, which is now hardly disputed. From diabetes to cardiovascular problems, what goes on in the mouth does matter for the rest of the body. So, how are the EFP and its partners dealing with this?

In this interview we talk to Christabel Fowler, Global Oral Health Medical and Scientific Affairs Lead, and Alyson Axe, Global Oral Health Medical and Scientific Affairs Principal Scientist, both from Haleon.

Healthy mouth, healthy body is the key theme explored here. Haleon would heartily agree. “Our goal is to make the world's mouths healthier," it says on its website. The company thus gets the ever-emerging connection between oral and systemic health.

Christabel Fowler is very clear: “As the evidence base grows, it is becoming increasingly clear that oral health is closely connected with overall health, particularly through shared risk factors such as diet, tobacco use, and socioeconomic disadvantage, and through common biological pathways including inflammation.”

Presumably educating the public in how to better care for your oral health is vital. “Absolutely”, thinks Christabel.

“The starting point should be simple, practical and empowering: help people understand that the mouth is part of the body, and that many of the same everyday behaviours that protect general health also protect oral health, using clear language that encourages action rather than alarm.” She adds: “What people can do every day, why it matters, and how looking after the mouth supports overall wellbeing as part of a broader healthy lifestyle.”

Messages on nutrition

Looking at nutrition, is it as simple as sugar bad, fresh fruit good, and avoid processed food? “Not quite”, says Christabel Fowler: “It’s not that simple. For oral health, it is not just what you eat, but how much, how often, in what form, and when. Free sugars are a major concern, but repeated exposure matters just as much as quantity, which is why grazing on sugary snacks or sipping sweet drinks through the day can be worse than having them with meals. She goes further: Not all processed foods are bad in the same way, and it is important to acknowledge real-world factors such as cost and accessibility—for some socioeconomic groups, healthier fresh options may be less accessible or affordable, which can increase reliance on processed foods.”

These wise words are also very pertinent to general health.  Too much sugar isn’t just bad for your teeth and gums, it isn’t great for your gut either! Alyson Axe explains: “Benefits come from joining oral health with wider health, lifestyle, and healthcare efforts rather than treating oral health as a separate issue.”

Reducing free sugars, stopping tobacco use, moderating alcohol, improving hygiene, increasing fluoride exposure where appropriate, and early prevention and care help both mouth and body.

Christabel Fowler expands on the theme: “It also includes better medical–dental integration, dentists and doctors identifying shared risks, reinforcing the same prevention messages, and working together around conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular risk and pregnancy, where oral health may form part of a broader health picture.”

In other words, dentists and doctors need to talk more!  How do you achieve that, though? In two main ways, Alyson Axe believes: “By strengthening the evidence base and by supporting translation of that evidence into professional and public communication. On the evidence side, this includes investment in clinical, epidemiological, and real-world research to better understand shared risk factors.”

And the other way? “Industry is also participating in collaborations with academic institutions, professional societies and multi-stakeholder initiatives to help improve methodological quality, identify research gaps, and support more clinically relevant questions. In parallel, communication and education efforts are increasingly focused on translating emerging science into balanced, practical resources for oral healthcare professionals, other medical disciplines and the public, with emphasis on prevention, health literacy and the need for more joined-up care.”

Finally, what is Haleon doing to promote the link between oral and systemic health? Plenty it would seem! 

Christabel Fowler explains: “Haleon is trying to help at several levels: by building and publishing stronger science, by supporting product and formulation innovation, by working with external experts and organisations, and by improving education and prevention. This includes making formulations more consumer-acceptable to help encourage recommended usage, recognizing that a significant proportion of people do not brush twice daily, and supporting behaviour change by understanding genuine consumer motivations.”

Investing in research

Haleon is also investing in research on areas such as gum health, caries, ageing, and oral–systemic health and collaborating with academic and professional partners including FDI and IADR as well as supporting advisory boards, and educational initiatives. Alyson Axe chimes with this: “Haleon is continually working to adapt products and formulations to complement consumers’ lifestyles across all socioeconomic groups. We are focused on improving product efficacy through new ingredients and combinations that support better oral-health outcomes, while also responding to consumers.”  

What of the future of oral healthcare and its importance in general health? Christabel Fowler believes it’s all about prevention. “The future of oral health should be more preventive, more integrated, and more equitable. If the growing evidence linking oral and systemic health continues to strengthen, oral health will need to be treated far less as a stand-alone dental issue and much more as part of primary care.”

She emphasises political responsibility. “Governments do have an important role to play here, and in many places they should be doing more—not only by improving access to essential oral healthcare, but also by investing in prevention and public education.”

Christabel adds a final thought: “Greater collaboration across dentistry, medicine, public health, schools, employers, and industry is needed, so that oral health is built into everyday health systems and not left until disease is advanced.”

Jaw-jaw not war-war, perhaps!