Behavioral science research for oral health remains underrepresented compared to other medical domainsBehavioral Science Research Shows Gap in Oral Health Education

Oral disease is the most prevalent noncommunicable disease globally, affecting an estimated 3.7 billion people and imposing an annual economic burden of roughly US$710 billion—even though preventive recommendations for oral health are clear and widely known. This striking gap between knowledge and behavior points to a need for complementary approaches that help people translate awareness into action. Despite this need, behavioral science is an underexamined approach in oral health: Our bibliometric review found only 360 behavioral science publications addressing oral health compared with thousands in other domains, and most oral health studies were non-experimental. We argue that boosting, an approach from behavioral science that builds competences and respects autonomy, is a practical complement to traditional oral health education. We introduce the Toothbrushing Boost Toolbox: a set of simple, memorable strategies that map onto common behavioral barriers. These boosts are low-cost, adaptable across age groups and literacy levels, and could be integrated into clinical practice, public health programs, and digital tools. We further argue that boosting should be embedded within a broader agenda of system-level reform, including universal access and subsidized preventive care, and propose practical steps for implementing, evaluating, and co-designing boost interventions. An oral health agenda that is informed by behavioral science can help shift oral health promotion from providing information to fostering competence and sustained daily practice.