BACKGROUND:
Colonial legacies continue to shape global health systems, favouring Western biomedical paradigms and marginalising Indigenous knowledge, community agency, and entire domains such as oral health. Despite its links to general well-being and major non-communicable diseases (NCDs), oral health remains excluded from most global policy frameworks and universal health coverage agendas. Beyond its biomedical dimension, oral health serves as a political site where structural neglect and historical injustice converge.

METHODS:
This session draws on global Indigenous and African perspectives to interrogate how colonialism continues to influence health governance, research hierarchies, and care delivery. It is organised around five interconnected themes: (1) structural patterns inherited from colonial health systems; (2) epistemic injustice and the dominance of Western knowledge; (3) the need to centre communities in health decision-making; (4) the role of language and culture in access and equity; and (5) the systemic neglect of oral health in global health and NCD discourse. Oral health will be integrated across all themes to illustrate its systemic exclusion.

RESULTS:
The session will examine how health systems embedded in colonial ideologies are likely to perpetuate inequity, particularly in oral health, where traditional practices have been displaced and modern services remain underfunded or inaccessible. It will explore how oral health’s exclusion from the NCD agenda reflects the broader invisibility of marginalised communities in global health priorities. Presenters will share anticipated contributions that highlight pathways of resistance, reform, and reclaim Indigenous health sovereignty.

CONCLUSIONS:
Decolonising (oral) health is essential for achieving sustainable health equity. It requires dismantling colonial power structures, legitimising Indigenous knowledge systems, and repositioning oral health as integral to global health justice. This plenary calls on governments, academic institutions, and practitioners to co-create inclusive, community-led, and culturally grounded health systems where all voices, and all aspects of health, are valued.