Overview
Public health dentistry is the branch of dentistry concerned with preventing oral disease and promoting oral health at the level of communities and populations rather than the individual patient alone. It applies the principles of public health, including surveillance, education, prevention, and policy, to reduce the burden of conditions such as tooth decay and gum disease and to improve access to affordable, quality dental care. Core activities include community water fluoridation, school-based and population screening and prevention programs, oral-health education, and the study of how social, economic, and behavioral factors shape oral health and contribute to disparities. By measuring oral-health needs and the impact of dental conditions on quality of life, public health dentistry guides interventions designed to benefit whole populations. Research published through Human Health Research and its companion titles engages with population oral health, including an assessment of oral-health-related quality of life among a sample of the Yemeni population, which examines how oral conditions affect well-being at the community level. This page gathers peer-reviewed, open-access scholarship relevant to public health dentistry and the broader effort to prevent dental disease and promote oral health across populations.
Research published in this journal
1 peer-reviewed article, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.