Over the past 18 months, FDI and the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) have collaborated to identify a minimum set of adult oral health measures that balances a comprehensive view of adult oral health with a recommendation that is also feasible and reliable to collect in clinical settings. The FDI–ICHOM Standard Set of Adult Oral Health Measures was presented to the FDI General Assembly during the World Dental Parliament on 3 September in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The set will be publicly released free in due time along with a manuscript publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

The set of measures was developed through a rigorous consensus-building process that involved almost 30 subject matter experts across five continents, as well as patient representatives. It includes questions on psychosocial status, physiological functioning, disease and condition status, as well as related health determinants, based on information from both the practitioner and the patient. The set of measures fits within the FDI definition of oral health and its underpinning theoretical framework. FDI adopted a new oral health definition in 2016 to unite the health community under a common understanding of oral health. The definition paved the way for the second phase, the development of a set of measures. The FDI–ICHOM Standard Set of Adult Oral Health Measures represents the second phase of a multiphase process to help develop baselines and indicators for measuring oral health outcomes.

FDI also plans on conducting a validation study on the set of measures in order to develop a measurement tool for adult oral health. The measurement tool could ultimately score the oral health of an individual patient, a group of patients within a practice, a community or a population. With a measurement tool, FDI will be able to obtain and evaluate oral health data that will help shape its advocacy work, inform its publications and strengthen its position within the global health community.