Publications
Accelerating the dissemination of dental public health scholarship and best practices.
AIDPH is deeply committed to advancing scientific endeavors and fostering professional engagement. We regularly produce and contribute to white papers, reports, and peer-reviewed publications. Our efforts extend to presenting these resources to audiences at local, state, and national levels. Below, you’ll discover access to some of our work, and for further exploration, we offer over 120 recordings of presentations on our YouTube channel.
Mapping the Health Divide LGBTQIA+ Oral Health and the Role of Policy Inclusion
January 2026
People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, agender/asexual, and other gender/sexual identities (LGBTQIA+) have long faced discrimination from US health care systems, including dental care. The findings in this report demonstrate that, in addition to inclusive policies, care delivery systems must ensure safety, visibility, and belonging to improve health outcomes for queer patients.
ISSUE BRIEF: Oral Health for Pregnant Veterans
November 2025
Since 2014, pregnancies in women veterans using VA care have increased by more than 80%. Organizations like Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars are prioritizing integrated healthcare for all veterans, especially those who have a history of toxic exposure. Pregnant veterans are not eligible for VA dental care.
ISSUE BRIEF: Oral Cancer Prevention For Veterans
November 2025
Veterans are particularly vulnerable to oral cancer as a result of both behavioral exposures and occupational hazards unique to military service. While national data indicate declines in traditional cigarette smoking over the past decade, the use of e-cigarettes and vaping products has risen among military populations and veterans.
Perceptions of Dental Care Experiences and Health Technology Readiness in Tennessee
November 2025
This project sought to understand self-reported oral health behaviors, assess readiness for technology-supported oral healthcare, and identify pervasive oral healthcare barriers that Tennesseans experience.
October 2025 - Veteran Oral Health Virtual Road Tour Report
AIDPH has visited 27 states – and counting – to build the capacity of stakeholders and advocates for supporting veterans. This dynamic summary captures state-based activities, challenges, and replicable models for addressing veteran oral health disparities.
October 2025 - A Toolkit for Iowa Veteran Trust Fund Advocacy and Activation
This resource is designed to support stakeholders including veteran service organizations, dental providers, public health professionals, policymakers, or advocates, to make the Iowa Veteran Trust Fund (IVTF) more effective and accessible.
July 2025 - The Power of Prevention: Using Novel Technology to Facilitate Oral Health and Hygiene Habits for People with IDD
A total of 151 adults with IDD, aged 18 to 82, were enrolled in a pilot study across three care settings: IDD specialty care settings (63%), residential care facilities (21%), and traditional private dental practices (17%). The pilot evaluated caries and diabetes risk through salivary biomarkers, assessed home hygiene behaviors, and collected caregiver and provider feedback using digital tools.
July 2025 - Queer Inclusion and Belonging in Dental Education
To address the gaps in evaluating queer inclusion and belonging in dental education, AIDPH conducted a three-part study culminating in a set of strategic recommendations for dental education institutions. This approach leveraged several data collection mechanisms with the intention of generating a holistic understanding of the current environment for queer people in relation to dental education and the future dental workforce.
June 2025 -A National Research Agenda for Improving Oral Health Outcomes: A Call to Action for Community Engagement
AIDPH has developed a national research agenda and call to action for the oral health community. Developed collaboratively by the AIDPH’s Oral Health Community Advisory Board and the Oral Health Community Engaged Research Task Force (OHCER), this publication features national survey research that informed more than 80 research questions and priorities for patient-centered CER and community-engaged research in oral health.
June 2025 - A Roadmap for Advancing Patient-Centered CER in Oral Health
Supported by funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), this document serves as a blueprint for fostering collaboration, strengthening community relationships, and advancing equitable oral health outcomes, particularly for underserved, historically excluded, and marginalized populations.
May 2025 - A Strategic Plan for Advancing Veteran Oral Health in Iowa
Veterans are a vital part of Iowa’s population, comprising nearly 9% of the state’s adult residents, with approximately 177,000 veterans living across both urban and rural areas. While the data provides a clear picture of the disparities, the feedback from forums and the summit reveals the readiness of Iowa’s stakeholders to drive change.
April 2025 - All Veterans Deserve Comprehensive Dental Care
Most Americans don’t realize the complexities of veteran health care and how many veterans are unable to access dental care in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) due to limited eligibility. This Forefront article outlines the current landscape of veterans’ oral health in the US and offers policy solutions that can improve access to dental care.
March 2025 - Dental Care as a Human Right: Advancing Oral Health Justice Through Community Empowerment
The 2025 Colloquium Book of Proceedings serves as a valuable resource repository for past and future attendees, providing an overview of each presentation, honoring the AIDPH 2025 awardees, recognizing our sponsors, and enhancing the knowledge base and support for addressing access to dental care for underserved populations.
January 2025 - Advancing Oral Health Across the Lifespan Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief
AIDPH provided a workshop during the November NASEM event on oral health throughout the lifespan. AIDPH focuses on groups that often have limited access to dental care, such as veterans, rural communities, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. Few data exist on the oral health of the latter group, said Cothron, and dental schools do not focus on this population.
December 2024 - How socioeconomic and structural barriers influence dental care among transgender people
AIDPH analyzed BRFSS data to evaluate the oral health outcomes of transgender people. Nearly all socioeconomic and healthcare access covariates were associated with transgender identity. A significantly smaller proportion of transgender respondents reported a past-year medical checkup (all p < 0.01). In all three models and across all analyses, transgender respondents had significantly lower odds of having seen a dentist in the past year, compared to cisgender people.
July 2024 - The Landscape of Dental Care for People with Intellectual and Development Disabilities in Tennessee
The report synthesizes data from multiple sources to evaluate the readiness and responsiveness of the state’s dental care infrastructure to the unique needs of people with IDD in the state of Tennessee. By examining existing disparities, identifying strengths, and pinpointing challenges within the system, this study provides a roadmap for stakeholders to improve oral health outcomes for this medically underserved population.
June 2024 - Strengthening State Medicaid Advocacy for People with Disabilities: A Toolkit for Activation
AIDPH and CTD are developing a toolkit to build the capacity of oral health professionals, people with disabilities, advocates, and other stakeholders to provide Medicaid dental benefits for adults with disabilities. Topics include using data to inform policy, understanding your political landscape, engaging with decision-makers, creating nontraditional partnerships, and storytelling in policy.
March 2024 - Community Collaboration in Oral Health: Advancing Person-Centered Outcomes
The 2024 AIDPH Colloquium, titled “Community Collaboration in Dental Research: Advancing Person-Centered Outcomes,” took place from March 25 to 27 in Chicago, Illinois. This event was dedicated to building skills and learning strategies for engaging in patient-centered CER. The agenda was crafted to foster both personal and professional growth, driving insightful discussions and broadening perspectives by showcasing participant research, outcomes, and frameworks in community-driven oral health.
March 2024 - Oral Health Is Essential to Veteran Productivity and Well-Being
Nearly 600,000 veterans reported productivity loss in the past year due to oral health problems, according to a report from CareQuest Institute and the American Institute of Dental Public Health. The report finds that lack of access to dental care leads to significant losses in productivity time and money for veterans and their employers.
January 2024 - The State of Veteran Oral Health in Iowa
In Iowa, veterans are more likely to be rural, have lower incomes, and have disabilities. These factors can all exacerbate the already significant poor oral health outcomes experienced by veterans. This report was developed to serve as a resource for key target audiences including clinicians, advocates, health administrators, nonprofit organizations, researchers, and policy makers to design and implement solutions for Iowa veterans.
July 2023 - Improving Knowledge, Comfort, and Attitudes for LGBTQIA+ Clinical Care and Dental Education
Although a demonstrated need exists to explore drivers of disparity and develop evidence-based solutions that address the oral health and wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ people, little research focuses on the intersection of oral health and LGBTQIA+ healthcare. AIDPH surveyed oral health professionals to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices among a broad range of oral health professionals regarding LGBTQIA+ oral health.
May 2023 - A Compendium of Veteran Oral Health Best, Promising, and Emerging Practice Approaches
AIDPH and NNOHA solicited information from veteran-centric oral health programs that provided clinical dental care to veterans. An expert panel reviewed, scored, and categorized each program submission as an emerging, promising, or best practice model within three categories: patient recruitment, clinical care delivery, and community engagement. The final 14 submissions are included in this compendium to be reviewed, replicated, and implemented for veteran oral health care.
March 2023 -Inadequate Dental Care for Veterans Is Painful and Costly
Veterans living with heart disease and diabetes often experience worse health outcomes than nonveterans with these conditions, and these two chronic disease conditions that are known to worsen oral health.2 The American Institute of Dental Public Health (AIDPH) and CareQuest Institute for Oral Health® surveyed veterans in 2021 and 2022 on their selfreported oral health outcomes and access to dental care. This research brief highlights key financial and health outcomes reported by almost 4,000 veterans.
December 2022 -Illustrating the Role of Dental Journals in the Translational Science Process
This report depicts barriers within the dental peer-reviewed publication process that slow the translation of research to clinical implementation. This illustration is relayed in three parts: an environmental scan of dental journals, a brief survey of dental journal editors, and a qualitative analysis of interviews with dental journal editors. Together, these data points show the important role dental journals play in oral health’s research-practice gap
December 2022 - Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID-19 relief funding for veteran-, minority-, and women- owned dental businesses: A cross-sectional study
The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated dental staffing shortages, which impact care delivery and ultimately oral health equity. Federal funding efforts like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) sought to aid traditionally underserved businesses including those owned by veterans, minority racial and ethnic groups, and women. Minority racial and ethnic groups and women received less PPP funding and less loan forgiveness, on average, compared with non-minority groups.
November 2022 - Improving the Oral Health of Rural Veterans Through Policy, Data Collection, and Care Delivery
The purpose of this report is to highlight data collected from the 2021 Veteran Oral Health Survey comparing rural and urban veterans. Ultimately, veterans face challenges accessing consistent oral health care regardless of geographic location. However, the overlapping inequities facing rural veterans are significant.
October 2022 - The Financial and Policy Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Dental Care Workers
The shutdown of dental clinics during COVID-19, coupled with patients fearing for their safety when clinics reopened, resulted in dental practitioners being furloughed or permanently unemployed. The American Institute of Dental Public Health (AIDPH) used the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program survey results to examine the long-term impacts on the dental health care workforce.
August 2022 - Chronic Disease and Rurality Impacts Veteran Oral Health Outcomes: A BRFSS Analysis
Lack of dental care access, coupled with the high prevalence of chronic disease conditions among veterans, necessitates more focus on the underlying health conditions and influencing social determinants for veteran oral health. The purpose of this study was to investigate access to dental care for veterans and analyze the associated influences of chronic disease conditions.
April 2022 -Veteran Dental Care Stimulates the Economy and Improves Overall Health
Across the board, veterans are more likely to experience worse oral health outcomes — higher rates of tooth decay, higher rates of gum disease, and an increased need for restorative dental care, compared to nonveterans. CareQuest Institute for Oral Health and the American Institute of Dental Public Health (AIDPH) focused on solutions supporting veteran oral health, physical health, and economic security
December 2021 - Veteran Oral Health Expanding Access and Equity
The social, structural, and individual drivers of disparate oral health outcomes experienced by veterans deserve more attention from the oral health community. This white paper offers an opportunity for the oral health community to understand the health care needs of veterans and underscores the potential for whole-person, integrated care.
June 2021 - A systematic review of dental-related emergency department visits among Medicaid beneficiaries
Dental-related emergency department (ED) visits are a growing public health concern. Dental insurance coverage is a strong predictor of dental service access. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review to assess the incidence of dental-related ED visits for Medicaid dental enrollees compared to those with other insurances. The results of this study support expanding insurance coverage in Medicaid programs to reduce ED use for NTDC visits in the United States.
October 2020 - Time is on the side of change in dentistry
Dentistry’s traditional approach to care has been procedure-oriented and reimbursed as fee-for-service. This approach lacks concordance with other sectors of health-care delivery and finance, which are person-centered, value-based, and prevention-oriented. Dentistry has long been a pro-fession ripe for disruption and COVID-19 is catalyzing anoverdue and necessary structural change within dental caredelivery