Marginalized and vulnerable communities experience a disproportionate burden of disease and disability, particularly within oral health. Working-age adults lack regular access to oral health care and spend over $520 million each year going to the emergency department for dental care. Children miss school days due to pain and infection. Underserved communities miss opportunities to be dentally healthy because of high costs and low access.
A Decade of Service
Since AIDPH’s ... Read More
Marginalized and vulnerable communities experience a disproportionate burden of disease and disability, particularly within oral health. Working-age adults lack regular access to oral health care and spend over $520 million each year going to the emergency department for dental care. Children miss school days due to pain and infection. Underserved communities miss opportunities to be dentally healthy because of high costs and low access.
A Decade of Service
Since AIDPH’s founding in 2015, we’ve made our voices known. We’ve uploaded hundreds of hours of educational programming, published over 250 pages of research content, and developed a network of thousands of people, including dental practitioners, advocacy groups, industry leaders, policy decision-makers, professional associations, and oral health stakeholders. Throughout the past decade, we have remained committed to advancing affordable, accessible, and valuable dental care for all people - particularly in core communities of focus: veterans, people with disabilities, rural communities, and LGBTQIA+ individuals.
About Our Work
Education and Leadership
Our educational and leadership programming, organized under the AIDPH Academy, is designed to catalyze personal and professional growth for students and professionals alike. From webinars and workshops to immersive fellowships to our annual Colloquium conference, our offerings are designed to embolden professionals throughout their careers and empower them with an intensive understanding of the social, political, and environmental determinants of oral health. Through our Empowering Transformation for Community Health (ETCH) learning framework, we transform professionals into active leaders and changemakers in dismantling oral health disparities.
Research and Impact
AIDPH’s mixed-methods qualitative and quantitative research is timely, action-based, and community-engaged. We grant policymakers, educators, clinicians and dental practices, and advocacy and affinity groups with practical context on some of the most pressing issues in dental health equity and impactful strategic recommendations for pushing the needle towards progress. We establish diverse stakeholder groups throughout the design, collection, and dissemination phases of our collaborative work, ensuring a comprehensive and inclusive approach.
Policy and Advocacy
AIDPH’s advocacy work amplifies underserved voices and pushes the dental public health community to enhance the access, quality, and affordability of dental care. We engage stakeholders, tap into strategic partnerships, and draw from rigorous evidence to challenge systems sustaining disparities and confront longstanding inequities.
Forging a Better Future
Dental public health is undergoing significant changes, and we have a long way to go in order to achieve true dental health justice. Help us chart a sustainable path forward, and ring in another ten years of actionable systemic change, by donating to our $10,000 for ten years campaign. Your gift will go towards supporting AIDPH operations— essential work in keeping our organization and mission afloat—and will allow us to expand our collective impact during a pivotal turning point in the history of American dental public health policy.
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