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| Year : 2017 | Volume
: 28
| Issue : 5 | Page : 475 |
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| Burden of oral diseases in 2016: Newer opportunities for further research |
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SM Balaji
Executive Editor, Indian Journal of Dental Research, Director and Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Click here for correspondence address and email
| Date of Web Publication | 25-Oct-2017 |
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How to cite this article:
Balaji S M. Burden of oral diseases in 2016: Newer opportunities for further research. Indian J Dent Res 2017;28:475 |
The global burden of diseases (GBD) for 2016 has been recently released.[1] This GBD 2016 is quite important for two reasons. As in previous GBDs, even in GBD 2016, still, dental caries of the permanent dentition is the most common disease affecting humankind with 2.44 billion people being affected by it.[1],[2] The dental caries of deciduous dentition is at the 17th place and edentulism at the 29th place. Over the period from 1990, dental disorders have been the most common disease causing substantial burden on humans.[1] In spite of the best efforts on combatting dental diseases, as dentists, we are not able to provide or minimize the impact of such diseases. The guest editorial in this issue of IJDR addresses the concern from a different perspective.[3] The guest editorial is a broader version of the previous editorial in this journal.[4] The recently concluded 30th ISDR meeting had good deliberations in this regard. Hopefully, in the near future, Indian oral health policy would be shaped on the basis of the best available evidences.[5]
The second welcome change is the sharing of India-specific data with GBD.[1] This move by the Indian Council of Medical Research would help to draw meaningful conclusion based on evidence rather than empirical ones. Hopefully, with the help of structured data, health policies of India would be driven toward betterment.
With dental disorders occupying three slots of the thirty diseases with the maximum burden in terms of prevalence, a huge drain of resources is eminent.[1] Prevention is the key, and dentists need to focus on more simple ways to prevent dental caries.[5] For this, research is the key. With India being one of the most populous countries, relooking into its oral health policies is the need of the hour. Hopefully, the members of ISDR can contribute to this by their research efforts.
 References | |  |
| 1. | GBD Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 328 diseases and injuries for 195 countries, 1990-2016: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet 2017;390:1211-59.  |
| 2. | Balaji SM. Burden of oral diseases in India: Where are we? Indian J Dent Res 2017;28:354. [ PUBMED] [Full text] |
| 3. | Cohen LK, Dahlen G, Escobar A, Fejerskov O, Johnson NW, Manji F. Why a Radical Overhaul of Dentistry is Needed. Indian J Dent Res 2017;28:471-4. [Full text] |
| 4. | Balaji SM. Redefining and reinventing dentistry. Indian J Dent Res 2017;28:241. [ PUBMED] [Full text] |
| 5. | Balaji SM. Burden of oral diseases: Further thoughts. Indian J Dent Res 2016;27:229. [ PUBMED] [Full text] |
Correspondence Address:
S M Balaji
Executive Editor, Indian Journal of Dental Research, Director and Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijdr.IJDR_563_17
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