We propose a model that is applicable to oral health education. The model describes the oral cavity in a complexity-based ecological context. This concept includes the premise that factors from different organisational levels (biological, individual, community, society) interact in a complex way with the potential to 'stress' the ecosystem and thereby provoke changes. This mode of action complies with the understanding of the oral cavity as a complex adaptive system. An ecological model is actively used in the undergraduate problem-based curriculum at the Faculty of Odontology, Malmo University, Sweden and has recently been applied as a conceptual basis for the new dental curriculum being established at the University of Tromso in Northern Norway. The purpose is to encourage and promote an ecological, health-oriented view and to stimulate reflections on premises for oral health and diseases in an integrated context.