The journal is concerned with dental public health and related subjects. Dental public health is the science and the art of preventing oral disease, promoting oral health, and improving the quality of life through the organised efforts of society.

The discipline covers a wide range and includes such topics as:

-oral epidemiology-
oral health services research-
preventive dentistry - especially in relation to communities-
oral health education and promotion-
clinical research - with particular emphasis on the care of special groups-
behavioural sciences related to dentistry-
decision theory-
quality of life-
risk analysis-
ethics and oral health economics-
quality assessment.
The journal publishes scientific articles on the relevant fields, review articles, discussion papers, news items, and editorials. It is of interest to dentists working in dental public health and to other professionals concerned with disease prevention, health service planning, and health promotion throughout the world. In the case of epidemiology of oral diseases the Journal prioritises national studies unless local studies have major methodological innovations or information of particular interest.