A life course approach to population oral health

Oral health inequalities are caused by social, commercial, and political determinants, and remain a persistent national and global challenge. This paper presents an overview of the social determinants of health and highlights the importance of a life course perspective to examine and understand how health inequalities are produced and perpetuated. We discuss how life course theory is linked to wider public health strategies such as the Common Risk Factor Approach and population (or upstream) approaches to prevention, and how it applies to oral health promotion. We emphasise the relevance of a life course approach for dental professionals and policymakers concerned with reducing oral health inequalities and propose how such an approach can be translated into evidence-based oral health policy and practice.