Key messages
- There are resources to help plan and initiate promotion of oral health.
- The resources are tailored to Victoria and focus on promotion across sectors and organisations.
- There are evidence-based resources and oral health profiles.
There are a number of key resources available to plan and initiate promotion of oral health in Victoria.
The focus of these plans and resources is on prevention and guiding effective strategies for:
- oral health promotion across government
- health
- educational and community settings
- the workplace.
The Government's key priorities
The Victorian Government's key priorities for the prevention of oral disease are to:
- build partnerships and environments that support good oral health
- improve oral health literacy
- strengthen prevention and early intervention programs
- improve oral health promotion skills within the workforce
- improve population data on oral health status and enhance oral health promotion research.
Action plan
The Victorian action plan to prevent oral disease 2020-30 sets out a vision to achieve good oral health for all Victorians by 2030 and to reduce the gap in oral health for people who are at higher risk of oral disease.
Local government
Councils can make an impact on their residents’ oral health by helping to create environments that promote oral health.
The Improving oral health: local government action guide has been developed by the Department of Health in partnership with Dental Health Services Victoria outlining a range of evidence-informed actions that councils can consider to promote oral health.
Oral health profiles
Oral health have been developed by Dental Health Services Victoria. These enable local government to become more involved in promoting oral health in the community.
These statistical profiles of each local government area include population oral health data risk factors that may have an impact on oral health. They include:
- smoking rates
- alcohol consumption
- consumption of fruit and vegetables
- soft-drink consumption.
Resources and guidelines
Evidence-based oral health promotion
Evidence check: effectiveness of oral health promotion interventions 2022
Effectiveness of oral health promotion interventions 2022 describes the evidence for the effectiveness of oral health promotion interventions in the Australian population.
The Evidence Check contains reviews published between 2012 and 2021 that included studies conducted in Australia and other countries and jurisdictions with comparable health systems to Victoria and Australia, i.e. the UK, New Zealand, Canada and the US.
The resource also highlights some of the oral health promotion interventions that have been found to be effective and may be feasible in the Victorian and Australian settings
Update of the oral health promotion evidence base 2013
The National Oral Health Promotion Clearinghouse (University of Adelaide) has developed the following publication - This review updates the oral health promotion evidence base 2011 to provide a contemporary evidence platform for development of the National Oral Health Promotion Plan (NOHP).
This is the third in a series of oral health promotion evidence reviews, the first review, Evidence-based Health Promotion: Resources for Planning. Number 1 Oral Health, 2001 (1) was updated from June 1999 to June 2010 in Evidence-based oral health promotion resource, 2011(2).
This current review updates the evidence base from July 2010 to December 2012.
Evidence based oral health promotion resource 2011
The resource describes oral diseases and their determinants, and indicates the most effective health promotion strategies for prevention.
The resource assists health professionals, policymakers, planners and health promotion practitioners to further promote oral health in Victoria.
Community-based population-level interventions for promoting child oral health
Public health and wellbeing plan
The 10 priority areas in the Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2023-2027 will continue as the overarching public health and wellbeing priorities in Victoria, because of their contribution to the modifiable burden of disease and because they are key drivers for ill-health across the lifespan. These priorities represent areas where sustained action can have the biggest impact on health and wellbeing.
Australia's National Oral Health Plan 2015-24
Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives: Australia’s National Oral Health Plan developed by the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare was prepared under the auspices of the Council of Australian Governments Health Council.
Its goal is to improve health and wellbeing across the Australian population by improving oral health status and reducing the burden of poor oral health.
Reviewed 05 August 2024