Good oral health is essential to our overall health, wellbeing and quality of life.

For 50 years, Smile Month has helped people across the UK understand how to care for their mouths, make healthier choices and prevent avoidable disease. Over that time, oral health has improved significantly – but progress has not been shared equally.

Too many people still experience the pain, discomfort and life impact of preventable oral disease. Too many communities face barriers to care, advice and support. And too often, the system still responds after problems have developed, rather than helping people stay healthy in the first place.

The Smile Month Prevention Pledge is a commitment to change that.

It supports the ambition set out in our report, Oral Health: From Treatment to Prevention, to build a future where prevention is placed at the heart of oral health policy, services, education and everyday life.

Our report shows that the UK has made major progress in oral health over the last 50 years. Fluoride toothpaste, public health programmes, better clinical practice and campaigns like Smile Month have all helped reduce dental disease.

But the report also makes clear that progress is fragile and uneven.

Oral health inequalities remain a major challenge. Children and adults in deprived communities continue to face higher levels of disease, poorer access to care and worse outcomes. NHS dentistry is under pressure, while funding and delivery models still too often reward treatment more strongly than prevention.

The challenge now is not whether prevention works. The challenge is building systems that consistently place prevention first.

By signing the Smile Month Prevention Pledge, you are adding your voice to a shared call for a healthier, fairer and more prevention-focused future.

I am committed to supporting prevention, education and healthier habits, and to helping improve oral health for the next generation.