4th Global Oral Health & Climate Action Conference

4th Global Oral Health & Climate Action Conference

(COP 30 Climate Conference, Brazil, Nov. 10-21, 2025)

Penn Dental Medicine aims to establish a multi-year Global Oral Health and Climate Action Conference to promote and contribute to a consistent and coherent approach to addressing complex global challenges such as climate change.

The Global Oral Health and Climate Action Conference program would have two components:

1. a transdisciplinary program that would follow the main conference thematic days and host sessions where oral health stakeholders are part of multisectoral sessions. The aim is to strengthen opportunties for oral health diplomacy, and the integration and mainstreaming oral health in and across global health and sustainability agendas,
2. a global oral health program with focussed attention on themes and issues specific to oral health and dentistry, but which are aligned and reflect those of the main conference. Associations, institutions and subject matter experts from around would co-design and lead sessions in partnership with Penn Dental Medicine.

Rising environmental challenges through unprecedented heat, winds, fires, heavy rains and flooding, violent storm events as well as increasing water stress are impacting public oral health services and dental practices, placing immense stress on the prevailing restorative-oriented financing model. At the same time we are witnessing social and technological transformations that are reframing patient behavior, values and expectations.

This will necessitate that the dental community builds a climate smart and resilient service and practice model in partnership with government, business and society.  One that integrates prevention-focused care to ensure health promotion and disease treatment occur within planetary boundaries; optimizes the environmental performance of care delivery and waste management; drives innovation in business operations and dental materials; and through virtual oral healthcare systems supports community engaged and distributed services and care. This will require addressing gaps in our science and understanding through and adopting inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches to research and education agendas.

Global Oral Health and Climate Action Conference will create new opportunties and partnerships  through oral health diplomacy, and ensure that the dental community actively participates in planetary and human health in all policies.