Chronic Disease
Addressing Chronic Disease Conditions
Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke are among the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Poor oral health contributes to disease progression, worsens health outcomes, and adds to overall healthcare costs, particularly for underserved communities and veterans. Building on our research linking oral health outcomes to chronic diseases, AIDPH’s work on chronic disease focuses on advancing cross-disciplinary research and promoting policies that reflect the cost-effectiveness of oral health and public health interventions. We believe in supporting a public health workforce equipped to holistically address these conditions across care settings and providing them with the resources to be successful in this endeavor. Leveraging our research and advocacy, AIDPH aims to shift public health systems toward more integrated, prevention-centered models that improve outcomes across the lifespan.
Key Focus Areas
Oral Systemic Connection
AIDPH advances research and advocacy that highlight the critical links between oral health and chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Our goal is to position oral health as a necessary component of chronic disease prevention and management strategies across public health systems.
Workforce Readiness
AIDPH supports the development of a public health workforce equipped to recognize and respond to chronic disease across diverse care settings. This includes promoting interprofessional collaboration, clinical awareness of oral-systemic risks, and access to tools that strengthen integrated care delivery.
Data and Surveillance
AIDPH advocates for the inclusion of oral health indicators, community-level disparities, and chronic disease comorbidities in public health surveillance systems. Improved data infrastructure is essential to guide decision-making and align resources with needs.
Cost-Effective Policy
AIDPH promotes policies that recognize the cost-saving impact of integrating oral health into chronic disease care and prevention. By building an evidence base that demonstrates value across systems, AIDPH supports more efficient, sustainable public health investment.
Addressing Chronic Disease in Oral Health Saves Money and Pain
AIDPH applies a systems-level lens to chronic disease by analyzing how oral health status, care access, and structural barriers shape disease progression, quality of life, and economic outcomes—particularly for veterans and underserved populations. Our research has shown that veterans with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease face significantly higher out-of-pocket dental costs, miss more workdays, and lose more income than nonveterans with the same conditions. These findings underscore the need for integrated prevention and care strategies that address oral health as a driver of chronic disease burden and workforce productivity loss. Similarly, our research in oral health within disability communities shows how comorbidities and complex conditions exacerbate poor oral health – and that poor oral health can make chronic conditions worse. AIDPH uses this systemic understanding of health conditions to drive patient-centered solutions forward through education and advocacy.
Advocacy for Reducing Chronic Disease and Improving Overall Health
AIDPH champions public policy solutions, informed by our research, that address the high cost of chronic disease burdens for underserved communities by increasing access to comprehensive oral healthcare and other prevention efforts. We’ve been fortunate to have our research cited in bipartisan legislation, including the introduction of a dental pilot program for veterans with diabetes, included in the passage of the Elizabeth Dole Act.