The World Health Organization (WHO) has published new guidelines on environmentally friendly and less invasive oral health care for the prevention and management of dental caries, released as an information document to inform the sixth Conference of the Parties (COP6) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
You may download the document here:
minamataconvention.org
We are deeply proud to share that our AVOLA Associate Board Member, Marta Mazur, DDS, MSc, PhD, is among the co-authors of this landmark work, the result of an exceptionally extensive and rigorous scientific process. As a key member of the project team, Marta personally screened more than 40,000 abstracts and a substantial number of full-text articles, making an outstanding contribution to the evidence base that underpins these recommendations, for which we are profoundly grateful.
Building on the guideline, the group is now finalizing five scientific articles on related topics, with WHO as co-author, which will soon be submitted for publication. One of the key overarching findings emerging from this work is that preventive strategies consistently have a substantially lower environmental impact than restorative treatment approaches, including those using resin-based materials. This insight underlines the central role of prevention not only for health outcomes, but also for environmental sustainability in oral health care.
The concept of prevention as both clinically and ecologically superior and is closely aligned with the vision of modern, sustainable oral health systems. It offers strong potential for further dissemination and discussion within professional networks and organizations committed to advancing preventive and minimally invasive dentistry. For further information or inquiries, please contact:
Marta Mazur, DDS, MSc, PhD
marta.mazur@uniroma1.it
Researcher RTDA, Dipartimento interdisciplinare di Benessere, Salute e Sostenibilità Ambientale Dipartimento BeSSA, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Affiliated Professor, Pomeranian Medical University (PUM), Szczecin, Poland. Associate Editor, European Journal of Dental Education.