Oral Health as a Marker of Social Progress

Society strives to improve the quality of life and well-being of its members. While a broad range of social, economic, political, health, and environmental dimensions have been considered to contribute to human development, the perception of what constitutes social progress has been evolving over time. This article provides an overview of widely used social progress indices and their previous lack of oral health metrics. The article further discusses how information on oral health can portray dimensions of social progress over and above conventional markers of social progress. The article identifies unique characteristics of oral health, which qualify it as a relevant marker of social progress. To optimize people's life and well-being, we argue that concise oral health metrics (tentative items: number of natural teeth; global oral health rating; unmet oral health needs) can put oral health forward as a pertinent and practical marker of social progress. The World Health Organization's global strategy and action plan on oral health 2023-2030 offers a unique window of opportunity to enhance the uptake of oral health as a routine and central marker of social progress. The feasibility of implementing oral health as a marker of social progress has recently been exemplified by the European Commission's inclusion of an oral health-specific indicator in the 2024 edition of the EU regional Social Progress Index. Future research is encouraged to demonstrate the worldwide viability of concise and easy-to-use oral health metrics for inclusion in indices to measure social progress. Oral health is critical to ensure social progress and human development.