Beginning in 1979 with the Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and in each subsequent decade, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has overseen the Healthy People initiative to set national goals and objectives for health promotion and disease prevention. Because of the importance of oral health to overall health, oral health has been included in all five Healthy People initiatives.  The Healthy People objectives and the Healthy People Leading Health Indicators (LHI) are used by agencies at all levels of government and in the private sector to guide various population health improvement agendas. 

Healthy People 2020 identified potential strategies to improve access to dental services and improve the oral health of children and adults:

• Implementing and evaluating activities that have an impact on health behavior
• Promoting interventions to reduce tooth decay, such as dental sealants and fluoride use
• Evaluating and improving methods of monitoring oral diseases and conditions
• Increasing the capacity of State dental health programs to provide preventive oral health services
• Increasing the number of community health centers with an oral health component

Download an overview of the Health People 2020 Interim Report

Healthy People 2030 reduced the number of objectives to avoid overlap and to prioritize the most pressing public health issues.

Leading Health Indicators address the life span and will:

• Focus on upstream measures, like risk factors and behaviors, instead of disease outcomes
• Address issues of national importance
• Address high-priority public health issues that have a major impact on public health outcomes
• Be modifiable in the short term (through evidence-based interventions and strategies to motivate action at the national, state, local, and community levels)
• Address social determinants of health, health disparities, and health equity

Download a summary of the Health People 2030 Oral Health Indicators