Sustainable Development Goals and the Dental Profession in Saudi Arabia: A Call to Action

Sustainability has grown in importance as people have become more aware of, and have realized, the detrimental impacts of uncontrolled economic expansion on the environment. These effects will be felt by both present and future generations. Therefore, people have realized the need to protect the environment and to reform economic measures and social security, which are important for sustainable growth. Dentistry focuses on the health of teeth and the mouth structures. The health of the mouth represents an essential element that affects both the quality of human life and general well-being. However, it is very unfortunate that the existing dental practices are claimed to be unsustainable on numerous fronts such as the economy, well-being, and the environment. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a blooming dental industry. However, no traditional research on sustainable dental practice indicates a sluggish development of interconnected sustainable policies, research, and education to contribute to the sustainable development goals. So, this is a strong call to action for each individual, all dental professionals, governments, and NGOs, academic institutions, researchers, manufacturing companies, exporters, and importers to contribute, review, and work together to fill knowledge gaps, encourage researchers to set research priorities, and help leaders from different sectors and other stakeholders respond to the crisis in the dental industry by giving guidance and speeding up the steps that need to be taken to make dental practice in Saudi Arabia more sustainable.