Conceptualizing the Child’s Right to Oral Health: A Rights-Based Approach to Dental Caries

Dental caries is the most common noncommunicable disease globally and is a substantial burden for both adults and children, yet it remains largely neglected. The World Health Organization recognized the right to oral health in 2024. This paper introduces a comprehensive framework for children’s right to oral health based on the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It demonstrates that although human rights treaties do not explicitly recognize the right to oral health, oral health, and particularly dental caries, is a matter of human rights. The first part of the paper clarifies how dental caries is a child rights matter, while the second part proposes a rights-based approach to the regulation of its risk factors.