Daily care
Mental distress can make routines such as brushing, eating regularly, arranging appointments or navigating services more difficult.
10 October · World Mental Health Day 2026
Real voices.
Real change.
Mental health systems become more responsive when people with lived experience help shape the decisions, services and support that affect their lives.
The 2026 campaign
Lived Experiences Heard:
Real Voices, Real Change
The World Health Organization is calling for a shift from simply listening to people with lived experience to involving them meaningfully in policy, service design, delivery and evaluation. Being heard matters. Having the power to influence what happens next is what turns voice into change.
How the connection may be experienced
One person. Several intersecting realities.
Symptoms and treatment
Some psychotropic medicines may contribute to dry mouth. Persistent dryness deserves attention because saliva helps protect oral tissues and teeth.
Pain and function
Oral pain and difficulty chewing or speaking can affect sleep, nutrition, concentration and everyday comfort.
Confidence and participation
Appearance, breath, discomfort and fear of judgement may influence social contact, self-confidence and willingness to seek care.
What person-centred care can look like
Ask. Notice. Adapt. Connect.
Ask what matters
Include oral comfort, self-care, medicines, anxiety and barriers to appointments in conversations about health.
Reduce judgement
Avoid interpreting difficulties with hygiene or attendance as a lack of interest. Ask what has made care harder.
Adapt the encounter
Use clear explanations, predictable steps, agreed pauses and realistic prevention plans.
Connect care
With the person’s consent, strengthen communication between dental, medical, mental health and community services.
Recognise lived expertise
Invite people to identify what makes services accessible, respectful and useful—not only what professionals assume they need.
Close the loop
Explain what changed because people contributed. Participation without feedback can become another form of being unheard.
The shared message
Care becomes more human when lived experience is not added at the end—but helps shape the beginning.
Listening across disciplines and experiences can reveal barriers that a single clinical perspective may miss. That is where oral health, mental health and public health meet: in the life of the person, not in separate silos.
From voice to action
Participation should change the outcome.
01
Listen
Make space for experiences that services and data may miss.
02
Include
Bring people with lived experience into the decisions that affect them.
03
Co-design
Build care with communities, not only for them.
04
Act
Turn what is heard into accountable, visible change.
The oral–mental health interface
Mental health is part of health.
So is oral health.
Oral health supports eating, speaking, social participation, self-confidence and wellbeing. Mental distress can also make everyday self-care and access to dental services more difficult, while oral pain, functional limitations or embarrassment may affect daily life.
Research reports associations between depression and outcomes such as periodontitis, dental caries and tooth loss. These findings do not by themselves establish cause and effect: shared behavioural, social and biological factors may all contribute.
Integrated, person-centred care starts by asking what matters to the person—and listening to the answer.
Read the evidence.
World Health OrganizationWorld Mental Health Day 2026 — Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real ChangeWorld Health OrganizationLived experience heard: real voices, real changeWorld Health OrganizationOral health: health, function, wellbeing and social participationCommunity Dental HealthDepression is associated with periodontitis, dental caries and edentulism: systematic review and meta-analysisJournal of Affective DisordersThe oral health of people with anxiety and depressive disorders: systematic review and meta-analysisJournal of Clinical PeriodontologyPeriodontal disease and emotional disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Educational content only. This page does not provide individual medical, psychological or dental advice.