The launch comes as the current campaign cycle draws to a close. Officially introduced at the 2023 FDI World Dental Congress in Sydney in Australia, the “A happy mouth is…” campaign was developed to simplify oral health communication and make the benefits of good oral health easier to understand by linking oral health with well-being across three successive themes.

In 2024, “A happy mouth is a happy body” highlighted the links between oral and general health, including associations between periodontal disease and conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In 2025, “A happy mouth is a happy mind” turned attention to mental well-being, recognising how dental problems, including pain and tooth loss, can affect self-esteem and quality of life. The 2026 theme, “A happy mouth is a happy life”, brought these messages together by focusing on oral health at every age and stage of life.

According to FDI campaign data, around 220 countries and territories participated in WOHD activities, and over 1,500 event-related activities were reported globally. Online, the campaign generated more than one million page views and nearly 105 million content views between 2024 and 2026. FDI’s mascot, Toothie the beaver, supported the campaign through movie-style videos and two original anthems that helped extend its digital reach.

Why WOHD matters

Despite the high prevalence of oral disease, oral health remains underfunded, under-represented in global health agendas and poorly understood by the general public. WOHD is celebrated every year on 20 March and aims to raise awareness of the burden of oral disease and encourage action to improve oral health.

Recent global policy developments have helped raise the profile of oral health. In 2021, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on oral health, recognising the need to embed oral health more firmly in the non-communicable disease and universal health coverage agendas. This was followed by the adoption of the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Oral Health in 2022 and its Global Oral Health Action Plan (2023–2030) in 2023.

In December last year, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a political declaration on non-communicable disease and mental health. For the global oral health community, the declaration marked an important policy milestone: oral disease was explicitly included in the non-communicable disease agenda following years of advocacy. WOHD provides a platform for sustaining this momentum and supporting efforts to translate global commitments into national and local action.

A new campaign direction

The incoming campaign will adopt a different three-year narrative structure from the previous “A happy mouth is...” cycle. Rather than progressing from oral health’s impact on overall health to its connection with mental well-being and its importance across the life course, the new campaign will follow a different storytelling approach. The key messages will remain part of the broader campaign platform, and the creative execution will take a new direction. “We want to create a movement for lifelong oral health,” said Dr Anna Lella, chair of the WOHD working group.

The launch session will give dental professionals an early overview of the new campaign’s theme, objectives and strategy and of the freely available resources designed to support participation at local, national and global levels. More information about WOHD and the 2027 campaign cycle can be found at wohd.org.

Tags: