The main causes of oral disease include poor nutrition, high consumption of sugar and lack of calcium and micronutrients, and poor hygiene habits as well as environmental risk factors such as unsafe water, all linked to the limited availability and access to oral health services. Likewise, the poverty which prevents them afford the treatments, the low level of education and lack of traditions supporting oral health strongly influence the incidence of these diseases.

Peru, for example, is one of the countries where the incidence of dental health problems are reaching alarming levels. According to Health Ministry data, 95% of the population is affected by decay and 80% suffer from misalignment of teeth. These data are corroborated by INTERVIDA teams in Andahuaylas, where each school has an average of eleven decayed teeth and oral hygiene index bad or very bad.

Poor oral health has a profound impact on the health and quality of life in general. Pain, trouble eating or chewing, loss of teeth and the presence of discolored or damaged teeth have important effects on the lives and welfare of people everyday. Moreover, loss of teeth at an early age poses serious problems of nutrition and increases the risk of infections, which requires an urgent solution.

Therefore, teams INTERVIDA Health sector have a basis for its work in the dental care, developing projects for prevention and treatment of oral diseases in all countries in which they carry out their work. One of the great challenges that are facing these professionals is the difficult access to communities that are remote or poorly communicated. Therefore, INTERVIDA dentists moving to the ground in mobile medical units that have the tools and equipment necessary to perform dental examinations. As a result, in 2005, could be performed more than 135,000 dental care in schools and communities.

On the other hand, to avoid further aggravating the problem, it is very important to prevention actions that contribute to improving the oral health of children. Among these measures, in 2005, performed nearly 4,100,000 INTERVIDA free fluoridation among schoolchildren through periodic campaigns. It promotes tooth brushing through the free distribution of toothbrushes and toothpastes in schools and empower parents about the importance of proper oral hygiene, with the celebration of Preventive Medicine Conference. Also encourages the use of this good practice across the corners of Bath (made brushes, soap, nail clippers and towels) present in the classroom.

After five years of laboratory testing, researchers at the Balcarce Agricultural Experiment Station, National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) succeeded in demonstrating that antibodies taken from the chicken egg yolk can prevent human caries.