An understanding of the determinants of health, disease and health behavior form the basis of an approach to oral health promotion. The launch of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986) expanded key areas for action. Objectives: To develop an oral health promotion matrix suitable for applying to oral health problems of interest. Methods: A matrix was developed to link, primarily, the development of healthy public policy to the principal factors of the Ottawa Charter: creating supportive environments (health determinants: physical and social environments), strengthening community action, developing community skills and reorienting health services (health determinant: health care system). Results: The matrix developed into a comprehensive model identifying, in relation to each of the principal factors, (1) what healthy public policy should address (2) policy outcome (3)strategy to deliver policy (4) who is responsible to drive the policy agenda, and (5) how to facilitate the range of necessary human behaviors to drive the agenda. Conclusions: The basic matrix identifies the essential elements that must be addressed when, for example, developing oral health promotion in relation to oral health problems such as dental caries. The focus on issues that determine health asserted the fundamental direction for this matrix.