Lifestyle in Oral Health and Disease: A Comprehensive Guide for Oral Healthcare Providers

This is an innovative volume that introduces the emerging field of lifestyle dentistry, providing a current and relevant perspective on the strong connections between daily habits, lifestyles and oral health. Drawing on the expertise of over 60 international contributors from dentistry, medicine, public health, and behavioural science, this comprehensive resource features 26 evidence-based chapters that examine how lifestyle factors such as tobacco use, areca nut chewing, alcohol abuse, poor nutrition, sugar-rich diets, obesity, psychological stress, sleep disorders, eating disorders, recreational drug use, and risky sexual behaviours significantly impact oral health. It also addresses the two-way relationship between non-communicable diseases and oral health. Positioned at the intersection of behavioural science and oral medicine, the book provides oral healthcare professionals with a framework for understanding and addressing the multifactorial nature of oral disease. It also looks ahead to future opportunities, examining the potential of digital technologies to transform lifestyle interventions, patient engagement, and oral healthcare delivery.

This previously unpublished topic addresses a significant gap in dental literature. It is essential reading for clinicians, educators, family practitioners, researchers, and students aiming to improve diagnostic insight, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and adopt a holistic approach to oral care. It redefines oral healthcare as a key element of lifestyle medicine, enabling practitioners to promote both oral and overall health through informed, patient-centred strategies.

Dr. S. R. Prabhu is an Honorary Associate Professor at the School of Dentistry in Brisbane and a globally recognised expert in oral and maxillofacial pathology and oral medicine. His distinguished academic and leadership career spans India, Kenya, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Australia, establishing him as a key contributor to advancing dental education across continents, particularly in the fields of oral pathology and oral medicine. Dr. Prabhu served as the Head of Dental Schools at the University of the West Indies School of Dentistry in Trinidad and Tobago and RAK University Dental School in the UAE, roles that emphasise his impact in shaping curriculum development in diverse global contexts.

A Fellow of all four Royal Colleges of Surgeons in the UK and Ireland, Dr. Prabhu has served as an international adviser to the Caribbean and UAE regions, and as an examiner for the dental membership examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He has lectured extensively across the globe and played a key role in establishing collaborative partnerships between medical and dental institutions internationally. His long-standing dedication to oral and general health is demonstrated by his leadership in HIV/AIDS education workshops for oral healthcare professionals across Asia and the Caribbean during the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis. A prolific scholar, Dr. Prabhu has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, edited and co-edited numerous academic books, and authored over 150 book chapters on oral diseases, serving dental students and clinicians, medical practitioners, and dermatologists. His works are published by leading international academic publishers and are widely respected for their clinical relevance. He currently serves on the editorial board of the International Dental Journal (IDJ), the flagship publication of the FDI World Dental Federation, Geneva.

Saman Warnakulasuriya is Professor Emeritus at King’s College London and has been Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Oral Cancer since 2005. He is a Past President of the British Dental Association (Metropolitan Branch). Dr. Warnakulasuriya has served on several expert working groups of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to evaluate carcinogenicity of substances to humans. He has delivered numerous keynote lectures at international Oral Medicine, Pathology, and Oncology conferences and was on the organising committee and co-chaired the Global Oral Cancer Forum in New York in 2016. He is a global expert on the epidemiology and risk factors on oral cancer, developed the nomenclature of oral potentially malignant disorders, and has authored more than 300 scientific articles as well as three books, including most recently the Springer book Textbook on Oral Cancer: Prevention, Diagnosis and Management. He is a member of the editorial boards of Oral Oncology, Oral Diseases and Clinical Oral Investigations. Dr. Warnakulasuriya has received an OBE from Her Majesty the Queen for services to Medicine and was awarded the IADR's Distinguished Scientist Awards for Oral Medicine and Pathology (2015) and Global Oral Health Research (2022). He is a Fellow of King’s College London.

Sanjana Bhardwaj is the Deputy Director at the Gates Foundation and leads policy and advocacy work focusing on women’s and children’s health and primary healthcare systems. Sanjana is a medical doctor and a public health practitioner and was awarded the Distinguished Fellowship of the Faculty of Public health, Royal College of Physicians, UK. She has worked with the United Nations, leading child survival and development efforts across Bangladesh, India, Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, and South Africa. She is a Board member for PMNCH, FP 2030, chair of the Deputy Board of the Global Alliance for Women’s Health, a member of the Board of Advisors for a Lancet commission, co chair of the Africa Think Tank for Adolescent and Youth Health and has led steering committees, think tanks and working groups at global and country level. She has worked in academia at the University of the West Indies. Sanjana has delivered several key note addresses at global meetings and her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals. She has received certificates and awards in recognition of her contributions in public health.