Work

Sugar-sweetened beverage taxation, oral health policy framing, and dental caries data availability: a global policy and evidence mapping study

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Background Sugar-sweetened beverage taxation (SSBT) is an upstream public health measure intended to reduce sugar intake and prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases. Although sugar consumption is strongly associated with dental caries, it remains unclear how often oral health is documented within SSBT policy frameworks and whether jurisdictions have sufficient epidemiological data to evaluate oral-health outcomes. This study assessed the availability of dental caries data among 12-year-olds in jurisdictions with SSBTs and examined whether oral health and/or dental caries were documented in policy rationales. Methods This global evidence and policy mapping study identified sovereign states, territories, and jurisdictions with independently implemented SSBT-related fiscal policies. The availability of Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) data among 12-year-olds before and after SSBT implementation was assessed. SSBT laws and related implementation documents were reviewed for explicit or secondary references to oral health and dental caries. Jurisdictions were classified by World Health Organization region and income category, and per capita Gross National Income (pGNI) was used to assess economic status. Associations were analysed using Fisher's exact and Kruskal–Wallis tests. Results SSBTs were identified in 129 countries, territories, or jurisdictions, of which 117 met the inclusion criteria. None of the reviewed SSBT legal texts explicitly mentioned oral health or dental caries as a legal objective. In related implementation documents, 22 jurisdictions (18.80%) included oral health or dental caries as explicit objectives and five (4.27%) as secondary benefits. Only 38 jurisdictions (32.48%) had DMFT data available both before and after SSBT implementation. The absence of documented oral-health references was significantly associated with lower median pGNI ( p < 0.01), although this finding should be interpreted cautiously because of missing pGNI values and the small secondary-reference group. Explicit oral-health objectives were more frequent in jurisdictions within the WHO Western Pacific Region ( p < 0.01). Conclusion Oral-health references are absent from SSBT legal texts and inconsistently represented in related policy documents, although this does not demonstrate that oral health was absent from policy deliberations. Moreover, only a minority of jurisdictions have DMFT data available both before and after SSBT implementation, limiting the capacity to evaluate the oral-health outcomes of taxation policies.

Source: Frontiers in Oral Health

DOI: 10.3389/froh.2026.1940529