The field, the resources, the practitioners

New to dental public health?

Dental Public Health (DPH) is a recognized specialty within dentistry that shifts focus from the individual patient to entire communities and populations. Rather than filling one person's cavity, a dental public health specialist asks: why do so many people in this population have cavities in the first place, and what can we do about it at scale?

In this respect, Dental Public Health is the dental profession's counterpart to preventive medicine — the analogous specialty within the medical field. Both are formally recognized specialties in their respective fields, and both apply the same core logic: use data, evidence, and population-level thinking to prevent disease and promote health, rather than simply treating it once it has occurred. Just as a preventive medicine physician might work on reducing cardiovascular disease across a region, a dental public health specialist works to reduce oral diseases at a community or national level.

It is important to distinguish the specialty of Dental Public Health from the broader field of public health dentistry. The specialty refers specifically to dentists who have undertaken advanced postgraduate training and are recognized as specialists in this area. The broader field, however, encompasses a much wider range of professionals who all contribute to improving oral health at a population level. This includes dental hygienists delivering community prevention programs, epidemiologists studying the distribution and causes of oral disease, health economists evaluating the cost-effectiveness of interventions, community health workers reaching underserved populations, and policymakers designing the systems through which dental care is funded and delivered. Together, these professions make up the multidisciplinary workforce that drives improvements in population oral health.