Global Burden of Oral Conditions

Abstract

This chapter introduces a range of population health metrics unfamiliar to most public health dentists. The authors define and explain the use of disability weights, years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) metrics. Following this, the authors present the latest estimates on the epidemiology and trends from 1990 to 2015 for the three most common oral conditions, namely, untreated dental caries, severe periodontitis, and total tooth loss. For this purpose, the authors use findings from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. The GBD study systematically produces comparable estimates of the burden of more than 300 diseases and injuries, and their associated sequelae, by age, sex, geography, and time. The findings of the GBD study demonstrate that oral conditions represent a major population health challenge. Nearly half of the world population suffered the consequences of untreated oral conditions. The evidence put forward challenges the widely held view that population oral health has improved in recent decades. While the prevalence for each oral condition remained stagnant over the last 25 years, increases in population size and life expectancy have led to a dramatic increase in the number of people with untreated oral conditions worldwide. In conclusion, greater efforts, and potentially different approaches, are needed to reduce the global high level of oral diseases and to minimize their impact on individuals and society.