Anand, S. 

Balraj, L.

Gadiyar, P.

Gudsoorkar, P.

Mathur, M.

Mehta, S.

Samaranayake, L.

Singh, S.

English

MPG.PuRe

international dental journal 7 5 ( 2 0 2 5 ) 1 0 0 9 2 7CommentaryIndia’s Role in Global Oral Health Innovations andResearch Equity: Reflections From the 2025 GlobalConclave on Oral Health Innovation and Research(GCOHIR 2025)IntroductionGlobal convenings in oral health are increasingly serving notonly as platforms to showcase innovations but also as spaces tointerrogate the systemic asymmetries embedded in the interna-tional health architecture. The 2025 Global Conclave on OralHealth Innovation and Research (GCOHIR), convened in NewDelhi, India, on 15-16 February 2025 and hosted by the IndianDental Association (IDA) in collaborationwith national and inter-national partners, exemplified this dual role. It provided insightsinto India’s leadership in dental innovationwhile prompting crit-ical dialogue on persistent implementation gaps, workforce dis-parities andmissed opportunities in global collaboration.This commentary distills the following five key strategicinsights from the conclave dialogue. These aim to inform thecreation of future strategic forums by spotlighting areasrequiring urgent investment, thoughtful design and systemicreform to translate innovation into equitable oral health poli-cies and global agendas.! Rethinking Innovation: Pilots to Pragmatism! Digital Health and Oral Equity: Promise Beyond Platforms! Workforce Distribution and the Illusion of Surplus! Inclusion, Representation and the Structure of Convenings! Global Collaboration: South−South Potential and NorthernHabitsRethinking Innovation: From Pilots to Pragmatism. GCOHIRshowcased India’s dental innovation ecosystem, marked byan impressive volume of creative output, from 3D-printedmodels to AI-based diagnostic tools. Yet, the enthusiasticemphasis on production over rigorous validation couldlimit the evidence base for cost effectiveness and scalabil-ity.1 This disconnect underscores a deeper challenge: thecelebration of novelty sometimes outpaces the commit-ment to evaluation. To meaningfully address health dispar-ities, the innovations must be affordable, functional andadaptable to the communities served.A strategic shift is needed to embed timely evaluativeframeworks into the innovation pipeline to translate theseinto real-world use. In this context, platforms like theIndian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department ofBiotechnology (DBT), Biotechnology Industry ResearchAssistance Council (BIRAC) and IDA are uniquely positionedto mediate among grassroots innovators, regulatoryauthorities and policy stakeholders, facilitating the ethicalscale-up of innovations, evidence generation and the inte-gration of proven solutions into national oral health pro-grams. By leveraging its institutional legitimacy andextensive professional networks, IDA can help to ensurethat innovation is not only incentivised but also responsiblyadopted within systems that prioritise equity and impact.Digital Health and Oral Equity: Promise Beyond Platforms.India’s initiatives in digital health, especially through theAyushman Bharat Digital Mission, linking records, pro-viders and patients securely, are commendable.2 There is aclear need to integrate oral health data, electronic recordsand care coordination into digital health systems whilemaintaining a strong focus on digital literacy, communityagency and ethical safeguards.3 Indeed, digital health is asmuch a social endeavour as it is a technological one.4 More-over, the advent of the widely accessible artificial intelli-gence (AI) era in 2022 presents unprecedentedopportunities for radical transformation in the digital land-scape, enabling better service for underserved populationsat local, regional and international levels.5,6Workforce Distribution and the Illusion of Surplus. India isoften cited as having an ample dental workforce, but this sur-face-level abundance belies a critical imbalance. Urban areasare home to highly skilled clinicians, whereas rural and under-served regions continue to experience severe access gaps. Thisissue is compounded by the striking absence of mid-level pro-viders, including dental hygienists and therapists, whichappears to be a structural blind spot. This ecosystem has cul-minated in a paradox of world-class specialists deployed inenvironments that increasingly demand generalist, commu-nity-oriented care. The continued increase in dental collegesfocused on producing highly skilled dentists has not beenmatched by investments in primary-level oral health cadres.7Strategic reforms in education pipelines, policy incentives andscope-of-practice definitions are urgently needed to build aworkforce that aligns with the country’s diverse care needsand supports community-based primary oral health care.1Inclusion, Representation and the Structure of Convenings.The commitment to inclusion was evident in GCOHIRthemes, but at times less visible in its delivery. The need formore deliberate representation across gender, geographyand generational diversity was evident throughout the con-clave, symbolising the status quo. A women’s health sessionchaired exclusively by men served as a reminder that globalconvenings in oral health increasingly serve not only as2 gud soo rka r e t a l .platforms to showcase innovations but also as spaces tointerrogate the systemic asymmetries embedded in globalhealth architecture. This said, 2025 GCOHIR exemplifiedthis dual role, offering insights into India’s leadership indental innovation while prompting critical dialogue on per-sistent implementation gaps, workforce disparities andmissed opportunities in global collaboration.Global Collaboration: South−South Potential and NorthernHabits. Despite discussions on equity and co-creation,mechanisms for South−South knowledge exchange werenotably sparse. Traditional North−South paradigms stilldominated the discourse. In an era that demands decolon-ised knowledge systems, the failure to elevate horizontallearning between low- and middle-income countries repre-sents a missed opportunity.To meaningfully challenge these legacies, future globalhealth dialogues must prioritise horizontal partnershipswhere the Global South leads, listens and learns from itself.Efforts to institutionalise such collaboration are in a forma-tive state. IDA’s potential as a regional bridge actor, linkingSouth and South-East Asian dental associations, was evidentbut not fully realised. By activating these networks, the con-clave left regional cooperation on an aspiration awaitingaction plans and a potent operational framework. Neverthe-less, a more visible institutional commitment, through mem-oranda, has begun, awaiting working groups or regionalpartnerships to help transform rhetoric into action.Unlocking the full potential of South−South collaborationcould accelerate locally grounded, resource-appropriate solu-tions and reduce dependency on external validation, offeringpragmatic, resource-sensitive avenues for sharing and imple-mentation of knowledge, strengthening institutional capaci-ties and building regionally grounded solutions.8,9IntegratingWhatWorks: India’s Role in the GlobalCommonsImplementation emerged as a central theme at GCOHIR 2025,not merely as a technical exercise but as a challenge of sys-tems alignment and political will. India is home to numerouspromising models, some nationally celebrated, others less so.Innovations often fail to scale not because of technical short-comings but because they lack frugality, contextual accep-tance and long-term sustainability.India’s federated governance, far from being a limitation,could serve as a dynamic platform for adaptive integration ifsystem actors embrace decentralization as a strength.10,11Many of the country’s successful models remain underusedbecause of fragmented uptake and limited scalability. Invest-ment in implementation research and decentralised partner-ships could enable India to offer transformational, globallyrelevant pathways for oral health care.ConclusionsThe 2025 GCOHIR emphasised that innovation in oral healthmust extend beyond technologies to transform systems.Future progress requires evidence-based innovations thatprioritise equity and inclusivity in workforce models to meetreal-world needs. Embedding these values in all stages ofplanning, along with commitment to novel global partner-ships that empower the Global South, is urgently needed. Toelevate oral health from the margins of global health dis-course, convenings like GCOHIR must institutionalise ambi-tion and foster shared leadership. The next chapter in globaloral health must be shaped by humility, strategic action andshared leadership across borders.National institutions such as the IDA must maintain theleadership role in convening future forums, fostering regionalpartnerships and building translational platforms thatadvance sustainable, system-wide progress in alignmentwith theWHO Global Oral Health Action Plan (2023-2030).12,13Future global forums must embed gender, generationaland geographical diversity as foundational elements, notafterthoughts. These convenings are no longer just stages forshowcasing innovation; they are becoming vital arenas tointerrogate and address the structural asymmetries in globalhealth governance.Declarations of competing interestLakshmi Balraj is the Chief Scientific Officer, Indian DentalAssociation, Mumbai, India, and has been acknowledged inthe commentary for reviewing and supporting the endeavourto reflect IDA’s formal support and involvement.AcknowledgementsThe authors thank the IDA for hosting the 2025 GCOHIR andfor their leadership in organising the event. We particularlyacknowledge the contributions of Dr. Ashok Dhoble and Dr.Lakshmi Balraj for their coordination, support, insights andcontinued commitment to strengthening regional oral healthcollaboration.Author ContributionsShalya Anand and Priyanka Gudsoorkar are joint first authorsof this commentary. They led the conceptualization, drafting,and critical revision of the manuscript. The remaining co-authors, Sujay A. J. Mehta, Padma Gadiyar, Manu Raj Mathur;Lakshman Samaranayake, Shenuka Singh and Lakshmi Bal-raj, contributed their reflections and insights as participantsof the 2025 Global Conclave on Oral Health Innovation andResearch (GCOHIR 2025), and reviewed the manuscript forintellectual content.FundingNone.commenta ry 3R E F E R E N C E S1. Narang P, Dhoble A, Mathur M, Rana S, Mason S, Ali A. India’soral health outlook: challenges, economic impact and needfor preventative strategies. Front Dent Med 2025;6:1544899.doi: 10.3389/fdmed.2025.1544899.2. Gnana Sanga Mithra S, Bhavana S. Revolutionizing healthcarewith an in-depth analysis of AI’s transformative impact inIndia. Social Sci Humanit Open 2025;11:101467. doi: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101467.3. Rana RK, Kapoor N, Kumar D, Verma M, Taneja G. Digitalhealth revolution in India: transforming health and medicine.Indian J Community Med 2024;49(Suppl 2):S205–9. doi:10.4103/ijcm.ijcm_803_24.4. Kharbanda OP, Priya H, Bhadauria US, Khurana C, Das D. Oralhealth in India: current scenario and future perspectives.Contemp Clin Dent 2019;10(4):586–9. doi: 10.4103/ccd.ccd_824_18.5. Samaranayake L, Tuygunov N, Schwendicke F, Osathanon T,Khurshid Z, Boymuradov SA, Cahyanto A. The transformativerole of artificial intelligence in dentistry: a comprehensiveoverview. Part 1: fundamentals of AI, and its contemporaryapplications in dentistry. Int Dent J 2025;75(2):383–96. doi:10.1016/j.identj.2025.02.005.6. Tuygunov N, Samaranayake L, Khurshid Z, et al. Thetransformative role of artificial intelligence in dentistry:a comprehensive overview. Part 2: the promise and per-ils, and the International Dental Federation communique.Int Dent J 2025;75(2):397–404. doi: 10.1016/j.identj.2025.02.006.7. Vundavalli S. Dental manpower planning in India: currentscenario and future projections for the year 2020. Int Dent J2014;64(2):62–7. doi: 10.1111/idj.12063.8. Else H. How to banish manels and manferences from scien-tific meetings. Nature 2019;573(7773):184–6. doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-02658-6.9. Abimbola S, Asthana S, Montenegro C, et al. Addressingpower asymmetries in global health: imperatives in the wakeof the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS Med 2021;18(4):e1003604.doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003604.10. Pai M, Bandara S, Kyobutungi C. Shifting power in globalhealth will require leadership by the Global South and ally-ship by the Global North. Lancet 2024;404(10464):1711–3. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02323-7.11. Goniewicz K, Burkle FM, Hall TF, Goniewicz M, Khorram-Man-esh A. Global public health leadership: the vital element inmanaging global health crises. J Glob Health 2022;12:03003.doi: 10.7189/jogh.12.03003.12. Jha R. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on India’s federal-ism. Observer Research Foundation; 2021.13. Samaranayake L, Phantumvanit P, Varenne B. Declaration onoral health: a clarion call for action by all stakeholders. IntDent J 2025;75(2):381–2. doi: 10.1016/j.identj.2025.03.003.Priyanka GudsoorkarUniversity of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USAShalya Anand *Max Planck Institute for Human Development, BerlinChair, Oral Health Literacy Division, International Health LiteracyAssociationSujay A.J. MehtaSolidarity Dental Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio, USAPadma GadiyarOraltech.ai / Smilo.ai, Sandgate Qld, AustraliaManu Raj MathurQueen Mary, University of London, Institute of Dentistry, UK &Head - Health Policy - Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi,IndiaLakshman SamaranayakeThe University of Hong Kong, Hong KongGlobal Research Cell, Dr. D. Y. Patil Dental College and Hospital, Dr.D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pimpri, Pune 411018, IndiaShenuka SinghDiscipline of Dentistry, School of Health Sciences, University ofKwaZulu-Natal, South AfricaLakshmi BalrajIndian Dental Association, Mumbai, India*Corresponding author. Dr Shalya Anand Guest researcher,Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute forHuman Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin, GermanyE-mail address: iassist.health1@gmail.com (S. Anand).0020-6539/ 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. onbehalf of FDI World Dental Federation. This is an open accessarticle under the CC BY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.identj.2025.100927

India’s role in global oral health innovations and research equity: Reflections from the 2025 Global Conclave on Oral Health Innovation and Research (GCOHIR 2025)

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India’s role in global oral health innovations and research equity: Reflections from the 2025 Global Conclave on Oral Health Innovation and Research (GCOHIR 2025)

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