About us
The Global Child Dental Fund (GCDFund) is a UK-based charity whose mission is to ensure that the most disadvantaged children, from the most deprived communities around the world, have access to dental care and do not suffer from obvious dental decay in their lifetime.
We pursue this mission by:
- Building a cadre of senior dental leaders capable of effecting profound improvements to the provision of dental healthcare at local, national and global levels.
- Improving the oral health of the world’s most disadvantaged children through our projects.
- Increasing social responsibility in the dentistry profession, particularly in the emerging generation of dentists and dental leaders.
“We believe every child can and should have a healthy smile because oral health is crucial for general health and well-being”
Professor Raman Bedi, Chairman
Our history
The Global Child Dental Fund charity was established in 2008 in order to build on the achievements of its predecessor, the Global Child Dental Health Taskforce (GCDHT).
The genesis of the GCDHT was a European Union Presidency meeting held in England in September 2005. At this meeting, 40 European senior dental advisors and chief dental officers collectively called for a taskforce to raise the profile of the worldwide crisis of dental decay among disadvantaged children. To this end, the landmark ‘Declaration on Child Oral Health’ was signed, and Professor Bedi founded the GCDHT with a broad mission to bring the underdeveloped global oral-health agenda into line with the general health agenda.
The World Health Organisation officially endorsed the GCDHT’s mission and the UK government underwrote the project with a 5-year grant.
View our Timeline image in more detail, which details the charity's development.
