Professor Tim Newton from King's College London's Dental Institute was due to present at the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future (ACFF) Global Symposium in Dubai early this month. Professor Newton explored whether the current approach to caries prevention and control strategies integrate a sufficiently broad range of evidence.

Professor Newton said: 'Patients are vitally important in the care of their oral health but often we need them to change the way they do this. Changing their behaviour can be challenging in practice.'

Drawing from a large body of research, Professor Newton outlined simple and brief ways that dental teams can enhance patients' capability, opportunities and motivation to change their oral health related behaviour.

The ACFF is a global charitable organisation operated out of the Dental Innovation and Translation Centre within King's College London. The symposium, entitled 'Joining up the Evidence to make an achievable difference' was hosted by ACFF Chairman Professor Nigel Pitts and ran 2-4 February 2016. It marks the first of what is hoped to become an annual series of events drawing together research and guidance from across the globe to open dialogues around caries prevention and establish much needed links between the health disciplines in the global battle against tooth decay.