83 - Federal Health Surveillance and AANHPI Pediatric Oral Health Data Disaggregation

Friday, May 22, 2026

12:40 PM - 12:55 PM PST

Has Audio

Presenting Author(s)

DA

David Adelpour, DDS (he/him/his)

Pediatric Dental Resident
New York University, New York, NY
NYU Pediatric Dental Residency
Beverly Hills, California, United States

Co-Author(s)

DS

Dr. Alex Sheen, DDS

Principal Investigator
NYU College of Dentistry
New York, New York, United States

Research Mentor(s)

DS

Dr. Alex Sheen, DDS

Principal Investigator
NYU College of Dentistry
New York, New York, United States

Program Director(s)

LF

Lauren M. Feldman, DMD, MPH

Director, Advanced Education Program in Pediatric Dentistry
New York University, New York, NY
New York, New York, United States

Purpose: The aim of this study was to characterize the current state of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) disaggregation in pediatric populations within federal oral health surveillance systems and identify opportunities for equitable oral health data collection for this population.

Methods: A systematic content analysis was conducted on 110 HHS surveillance systems. Inclusion criteria required national, population-based systems collecting person-level dental metrics for individuals ages 0 to 18 years. Clinical registries, state-only datasets, and administrative records were excluded. Most recent survey instruments, codebooks, technical reports, and web-queries were used to extract demographic and oral health variables, which were then categorized into specific thematic groups and subgroups.

Results: Eight of 110 surveillance systems were included in this study. Five systems disaggregated AANHPI data, 1 did not disaggregate, and 2 allowed states the option. The 5 systems that disaggregate nationally only permitted access to the data through restricted-use files. Three out of 8 systems oversampled AANHPI populations. A thematic analysis of 56 oral health questions revealed 37% (21) focused on access to care, 27% (15) on oral health status, 23% (13) on affordability, and 13% (7) on dental-visit specific metrics.

Conclusions: While federal mandates have increased collection of disaggregated AANHPI data, significant barriers remain. Limited systems collecting oral health data, reliance on restricted-access files, language barriers, and limited oversampling prevents equitable reporting on the oral health of different AANHPI subgroups. Opportunities for improved surveillance may include state-level mandates, increased oversampling, and expanding the diversity of oral health measures collected.