The International Association for Dental Research, representing over 10,000 researchers worldwide urges governments to:
• invest in the prevention and control of NCDs that is inclusive of oral health and oral health research through adequate and sustained resources.
• prioritize access to national UHC benefit packages that incorporate essential and quality oral health services at the primary care level, and
• include oral health in national health surveillance by fully implementing the Global Oral Health Action Plan and a 3-year response frequency of its monitoring framework report.

Progress towards SDG target 3 remains off track therefore universal health coverage must be inclusive of oral health as health systems without oral health fail on the health system performance dimensions of equity, quality, responsiveness, efficiency, and resilience.