The Platform published the first State of Oral Health in Europe Report in 2012. This report detailed the scale of the problem of poor oral health in Europe, the impact on the lives of EU citizens, the inequalities in oral health and in access to oral health care, which exist between and within Member States, and the economic burden of oral diseases.
Subsequently, the Platform published our 2020 targets for Better Oral Health in Europe.
These were a set of targets aimed at national and European policy-makers, grouped under the following headings:
- Better data collection systems
- Preventive policies
- Health workforce planning
Based on these targets, in 2014 and 2015, the Platform published the European Oral Health Report Card. The report card measured the progress of the EU institutions and Member States towards achieving the targets. All of the above mentioned documents can be accessed using the links on the left.
Our previous work demonstrated that a range of effective population-based preventive initiatives have already been implemented across Europe. The Platform has therefore finalised a collection of best practices in oral health prevention and promotion from across Europe. The aim of this exercise was to explore and summarise some of the existing programmes, and examine what is necessary to ensure that these are supported by decision makers, sustainably financed, and rolled out between Member States where relevant.