Today people all over the world promote health improvement. Healthy People is a program that summarizes information from all spheres of health care and provides a range of objectives that should be considered during the next ten years (Healthy People, 2016a). Oral health is not an exception, and every decade several aspects of dental heath are emphasized.

Generally, Healthy People 2020 for oral health is targeted at prevention and control of “oral and craniofacial diseases, conditions, and injuries” and improvement of “the access to preventive services and dental care” (Healthy People, 2016b, par. 1). There are seventeen objectives related to this topic. The third objective pays attention to the health of adults: “reduce the proportion of adults with untreated dental decay” (Healthy People, 2016b, par. 9).

The objective that focuses on coping with untreated dental decay among adults has three sub-objectives, which are divided on the basis of the age of the main population and the peculiarities of the health issues:

“Reduce the proportion of adults aged 35 to 44 years with untreated dental decay” (Healthy People, 2016b, par. 10). It is stated that almost 29% of adults had such problem between 1999 and 2004. The target of Healthy People 2020 is 20.0%.
“Reduce the proportion of adults aged 65 to 74 years with untreated coronal caries” (Healthy People, 2016b, par. 11). In 1999-2004, more than 17% of adults were reported to face this issue. The target of the program is 15.4%.
“Reduce the proportion of adults aged 75 years and older with untreated root surface caries” (Healthy People, 2016b, par. 12). During the same period, almost 38% of adults had untreated root surface caries. The target of Healthy people is 34.1%.
This objective and its sub-objectives are all targeted at 10% improvement. It can be clearly seen that they are meant to promote oral health in rather diverse populations, as adults are of different ages and their race, nationality, living conditions, and income of the families are not underlined. However, the absence of such emphasis does not mean that they are not considered at all. Sex and income are discussed as the main disparities that may influence the results of the survey because they are likely to affect access to health care and health outcomes. One can easily find additional sources related to the topic that can be used to enhance one’s knowledge. It is also beneficial for students and practitioners that a number of articles were already written, and the research was conducted to thoroughly investigate every sub-objective. Thus, the authoritative data can be gained from the articles and used later when discussing Healthy People 2020 dental objectives in the future. It is also interesting that this objective was previously considered in the framework of Healthy People 2010 and then modified to meet the requirements of the new program (Healthy People, 2016b). Such fact proves that the discussed issue is very important and that it is not solved yet. If every decade the targeted result will be achieved, the oral health of the whole population soon will become much better.

References
Healthy People. (2016a). About Healthy People. Web.

Healthy People. (2016b). Oral health. Web.