Abstract

Oral health disorders are major public health problems globally. There is a vast disparity in access to oral health care between developed and developing world as evident in reports of World Health Organisation (WHO) and Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI). The oral health goals of WHO, FDI and International Association of Dental Research (IADR) for the year 2020 have brought forth the critical issues prevalent worldwide. India with huge population of 1.21 billion (2011 census) is faced with certain unique issues due to low level of awareness, varied terrain, strained infrastructure, limited access to oral health care and indigenous cultural practices. Research institutes and centrally funded agencies have been working at par with world standards, however, the oral health research has been lacking in terms of quality and addressing of community issues. It was deeply felt that this area requires appropriate summarization and future directions. This has been done in three parts with present paper attempting to address global vision, research orientations and specific burden, past research and future directions related to dental caries in India.

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