A social movement to reduce caries prevalence in the world.

Despite the fact that it is preventable, dental caries remains a global public health problem—even with fluoride intervention—and it is the most common chronic disease on the planet. Moreover, researchers have already shown for some years that caries is a disease continuum that at the early stages is reversible, yet many Ministries of Health and dental professionals misunderstand this. We believe it’s important to address these issues and to drive broader understanding and action. As such, a public health program, the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future (http://www.allianceforacavityfreefuture.org/en/us/aboutus), was developed. In the history of dentistry we have never yet had effective engagement between healthcare professionals, the government and other stakeholders to contain this widespread problem of dental caries in the world. The Alliance is a social movement, which convenes a worldwide group of experts who have joined together to work towards the goal of a Cavity-Free Future for all age groups. It acknowledges the global problem of caries, promotes an understanding of caries as a disease continuum, which is reversible, and will drive action to move communities and individuals to make the changes necessary to achieve the goal of a Cavity-Free Future. Overall, the group believes that global collaborative action is needed to challenge global leaders and other regional and local stakeholders to learn the importance of caries as a disease continuum and to participate in action toward the delivery of comprehensive caries prevention and management that can positively influence the continuing problem of caries. At the global level, the Alliance was launched on September 3, 2011 at the FDI World Dental Federation Congress in Salvador, Brazil. Since then the Expert Panel and Co-directors have been working hard to develop this initiative and have already received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from the global dental and public health community. The Alliance has identified the following long-term goals: • By 2015, ninety percent of dental schools and dental associations should have embraced and promoted the “new” approach of “caries as a continuum” to improve dental caries prevention and management. • By 2020, regional members (Chapters) of the Alliance for a Cavity-Free Future should have integrated, locally appropriate, comprehensive caries prevention and management systems and monitoring developed and in place. • Every child born in 2026 should stay cavity free during their life time.