The right to oral health in the Liverpool Declaration

Abstract

Based on the analysis of discursive practices, this article aims to outline the link between the right to oral health and the right to health contained in the Liverpool Declaration. An examination of this document identified the incorporation of the precepts of the normative-theoretical framework of the right to health, as set out by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Liverpool Declaration does not agree completely with the precepts of the aforementioned reference, although it expresses oral health as a human right in its preamble. Considering that the Liverpool Declaration focuses on the obligations of states, it is important that it is based on this normative-theoretical framework. Such measure would confer a more consistent ethical and legal basis, as well as contributing to the consolidation of global recognition of the fact that the right to oral health is a human right.