Leading dental and public health specialists explored how to eliminate dental decay in children within 20 years at the inaugural Global Child Dental Health Taskforce conference held at King's College London earlier this month.

Professor Raman Bedi (right) seen here at the launch of the Global Child Dental Health Taskforce last year with Professor Poul Eric Petersen, WHO Oral Health Programme (left) and Dr Brian Mouatt, World Dental Federation (right)

The taskforce for the first global initiative aimed at improving child oral health was supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and led by Professor Raman Bedi of King's College London's Dental Institute.

At the conference, world dental leaders debated how they could most effectively influence major system change for the way dental services are provided. The initiative is already underway in nine countries including China, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United States, reaching out to over one billion children and their parents. It expects to encompass 30 countries within the next few years and is responding to the fragmented global burden of oral disease.

For example, 50% of UK children leave school never having had a filling, whereas in Saudi Arabia, more than 90% of school leavers have a dental cavity. The taskforce will influence and harmonise national oral health programmes via the sharing and development of cutting edge preventive strategies.

Delivering his opening address at the conference, Professor Bedi, who is a former Chief Dental Officer for England (2002-5) said, 'Every child in the world deserves good oral health. Yet dental decay remains the most common childhood disease, with every other child across the world suffering a cavity. Child oral health is often treated as low priority or even overlooked within healthcare planning. The irony is that effective preventive measures are well proven and we believe that via a collaborative international approach we can considerably reduce and even eliminate dental cavities in children.'

The Global Child Dental Health Taskforce was established in January 2006 after 40 senior dental advisors and chief dental officers called for its formation at a 2005 European Union Presidency meeting. A key part of its strategy is to build a global network of national taskforces headed up by local, leading senior dental and public health specialists.