Current Oral Health Program Funding

Key points

  • CDC supports state and territorial health departments and national partner organizations through cooperative agreement programs.

How funds are used

CDC funds state and territorial health departments and national partner organizations to help improve oral health in their communities. Funding also supports oral health surveillance plans, school and community cavity prevention programs, and medical-dental integration efforts.

Funding by award

CDC currently funds 15 states through the State Promotion of Strategies to Advance Oral Health (CDC-RFA-DP24-0048). This 3-year cooperative agreement provides recipients with about $380,800 per year to:

  • Increase access to evidence-based preventive dental services.
  • Provide technical assistance for community water fluoridation activities.
  • Improve oral health and chronic disease surveillance using secondary data sources to describe oral health trends.
  • Increase awareness of infection prevention and control guidelines.

The Partner Promotion of Strategies to Advance Oral Health (CDC-RFA-DP24-0049) supports efforts of state recipients to increase access to oral health services and reduce cavities.

The Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) receives an average annual award of $450,000 to provide technical assistance, resources, surveillance, and evaluation support related to:

  • Evidence-based preventive dental services (sealants and fluoride varnish) implementation in school and community settings, and partnerships to support them.
  • Community water fluoridation program implementation and partnerships.

ASTDD also provides technical assistance to analyze, interpret, and disseminate data about medical-dental integration, specifically the oral health of adults with type 2 diabetes.

The Association for Dental Safety (formerly OSAP) receives an average annual award of $150,000 to provide technical assistance and resources related to implementing infection prevention and control activities and partnerships.

CDC's Division of Oral Health allocates $200,000 per year to the Cultural Approach to Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country (GHWIC) Cooperative Agreement (CDC-RFA-DP-24-0025). This cooperative agreement reduces health disparities and increases health equity among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations by reducing:

  • Rates of death and disability from chronic diseases.
  • Prevalence of commercial tobacco use, prediabetes and diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, oral disease, and other chronic disease risk factors and conditions.

The Prevention and Control of Chronic Disease and Associated Risk Factors in the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico (CDC-RFA-DP-1901) works to prevent and control tobacco use, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Puerto Rico receives an annual award of $150,000 to develop and implement an oral health surveillance plan, and to implement, promote, and evaluate school sealant programs.

Funded state programs