Oral health is a field of expertise for which Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole has all the required skills. Here’s the most recent example: from September 7 to 10,
University of Montpellier hosted the world’s foremost specialists at a major symposium organized on the topic of Oral Health in association with the
City of Montpellier,
Montpellier Métropole, and
MedVallée, a worldwide excellence hub for Global Health.
This symposium was organized around two main events: first, it hosted a scientific day during which representatives from forty-five ministries of health from all around the world, representing the same number of countries, exchanged views. Then, from September 8 to 10, the
International Congress of the European Association for Dental Public Health (EADPH) was held, during which over two hundred participants discussed global oral health strategy and, in particular, the role of digital technology for oral health. That is why the presence of the
International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations’ IT division, was also important alongside the
World Health Organization (WHO).
“This symposium was the first of its kind on this topic,” points out Nicolas Giraudeau, a dental surgeon at the Montpellier University Hospital (CHU) and coordinator of Montpellier Santé Orale, a program whose objective is to make Montpellier an exemplary territory in terms of oral health.
People in Montpellier will thus regularly receive information on the benefits of small steps that can help prevent dental problems, sleep apnea, and related consequences on speech, breathing, and swallowing, among other things.
Montpellier Santé Orale is unique in its concept and approach because it brings together the
Montpellier University Hospital, University of Montpellier, City of Montpellier, Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie de l’Hérault, Montpellier CCAS, representatives of health professions (URPS and professional orders), neighborhood associations, schools, and more. It is therefore truly a
comprehensive, innovative, and multidisciplinary public health program.
“The goal is to ensure that all residents, without exception, especially the most vulnerable, have access to preventive care so that they can protect themselves as effectively as possible from oral diseases. We take an inter-professional approach because oral health concerns all health professionals,” emphasizes Nicolas Giraudeau.
This approach is exemplary. In 2018, the Montpellier oral health group had already organized a joint workshop on digital oral health with the WHO for the purpose of designing mOralHealth, a global program on digital oral health that focuses on sending preventive messages by SMS, notably considering that 85% of the world’s population has a cell phone.
The United Nations institution
officialized the launch of mOralHealth in September 2021 in the presence of Michaël Delafosse, Mayor of Montpellier and President of Montpellier Métropole. And for good reason: Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole will be
the first metropolitan territory in the world to implement the program by the end of the year. Digital oral health is thus a perfect example of MedVallée’s dedicated strategic direction, entitled “Montpellier, Demonstrator City and Territory for Global Health.” A vector for innovation that will further promote MedVallée’s combined expertise on a worldwide level.
