Achieving Universal Oral Health Coverage by 2030:
The Strategic Role of the Oral Health Workforce in Primary Health Care

Learn more about the role of primary health care (PHC) as the foundation for achieving universal access to essential oral health services. Highlights include how the implementation of WHO's Essential Oral Health Care Interventions, delivered through integrated and people-centered primary health care systems, can accelerate progress towards universal health coverage while reducing the burden of oral diseases, especially among underserved populations.
Benoit Varenne, DDS, MPH, PhD
Dental Officer, Dept. of Noncommunicable Diseases
World Health Organization

Accelerating Systems Change Through Integrated Whole Person Care: From Education To Practice

Despite advancements in primary care, dental care and oral hygiene practices, disparities persist across regions and populations. Founded in 2009, The National Interprofessional Initiative in Oral Health (NIIOH) was designed as a systems change initiative to cultivate champions, facilitate interprofessional learning and agreement, create tools and resources, and establish alignment across health profession education and practice to ready an interprofessional workforce for whole person care. As essential partners, dental hygienists are uniquely positioned for future leadership roles that bridge prevention, treatment, and communication gaps across our siloed health care systems.
Anita Duhl Glicken MSW
Professor and Associate Dean Emerita,
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center

The Oral-Systemic Connection: Diabetes and Dental Health

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide and has far-reaching effects on overall health, including oral health. This presentation will provide an overview of diabetes, including its pathophysiology, major types, associated systemic complications, and current treatment approaches. We will explore the well-established bidirectional relationship between diabetes and oral health, with particular attention to periodontal disease, oral infections, xerostomia, and delayed wound healing. Participants will gain an understanding of how diabetes can increase susceptibility to oral diseases and worsen their progression, while oral inflammation and infection may adversely affect glycemic control and overall diabetes management.
Dr. Kershlin Naidu, B.Med.Sci, MBBCh, FCP, MMed, FSEM
Endocrinologist
S. AFRICA

More Than a Mouth:
Healthcare Heroes on the Front Line of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea affects millions of adults and children, yet remains alarmingly underdiagnosed—creating an urgent need to move screening upstream and make early recognition part of all routine healthcare visits. Explore how medical-dental integration, innovative screening, earlier intervention, and collaborative care can empower clinicians to recognize sleep apnea risk sooner, ask better questions, and become a powerful part of changing the trajectory of a patient’s health span.
Lancette VanGuilder, BS,RDH,PHEDH,CEAS,FADHA
Immediate Past President
American Dental Hygienist Association

Oral Health and Alzheimer’s Risk: A Preventive Framework

Alzheimer’s risk is shaped by a network of interconnected factors, including chronic infections, inflammation, cardiovascular health, metabolism, sleep, and genetics. Learn how dentistry and medicine intersect, showing how oral bacteria and viruses interact with systemic pathways to influence neuroinflammation and cognitive decline, and positioning dental professionals as key contributors to collaborative prevention strategies.
Anne Rice, RDH, BS
USA

From Global Commitments to Everyday Action:
The Role of Self-Care in Achieving Oral Health for All

Recent WHO milestones, including the Global Oral Health Action Plan and the Bangkok Declaration, have created unprecedented momentum for improving oral health worldwide. This presentation explores how achieving Oral Health for All will require not only stronger health systems and expanded access to care, but also greater investment in prevention and evidence-based self-care. It highlights the critical role dental hygienists play in translating global policy commitments into everyday action by empowering individuals, supporting behaviour change, advancing health literacy, and championing prevention as an essential component of Universal Health Coverage. Through this lens, the session demonstrates how self-care and the dental hygiene profession can help turn global ambition into measurable population health impact.
Christie Oliver
Global Policy and Government Affairs Lead,
Haleon

Beyond the Teeth: Recognizing Myofunctional Disorders and Building Collaborative Care

Dental hygienists are uniquely positioned to identify oral functional concerns long before they become lifelong health challenges. This presentation highlights practical screening techniques, current evidence surrounding myofunctional disorders, and collaborative care pathways that connect dentistry with medicine to improve patient outcomes from infancy through adulthood.
Joy Lanz, RDH, PHDH, COM, IBCLC
President
International Association of Orofacial Myology

Oral Health and Cardiovascular Disease: A Translational Research Perspective

Oral health is closely associated with cardiovascular disease through shared risk factors, inflammatory pathways, and complex biological mechanisms. Translational research plays a key role in clarifying this association and bridging experimental findings with clinical evidence. Our clinical experience investigating this correlation will also be presented, providing further insight into its clinical and research significance.
Alessia Pardo, RDH, PhD
Junior Researcher, Department of Surgical, Odontostomatological and Maternal-Infant Sciences,
University of Verona,
Verona, ITALY