Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Dental workforce

Advancing Oral Health Equity in Texas: A Community-Driven Approach
Report offering priority areas for increasing oral health equity in Texas. Discusses oral healthcare access, workforce, and integrating oral and medical healthcare. Discusses rural throughout.
Date: 02/2024
Sponsoring organization: Texas Health Institute
view details
National Health Service Corps 2023 Report to Congress
Details program accomplishments of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), provides updates on Health Professional Shortage Area designations, explains recruitment efforts for NHSC Scholarship and Loan Repayment Programs, provides estimates on number of patients seen by NHSC clinicians, and details short- and long-term retention rates. Features state-by-state data with breakdowns by urban and rural locations.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
view details
Arizona Healthcare Employment, Projections, and Wage Report
Data visualization on current and projected healthcare employment by county in Arizona, utilizing Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data. Data may be sorted by health profession and county, metro versus non metro area, level of rurality, and more.
Author(s): B. Koch, C. Drake, S. Coates
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Arizona Center for Rural Health
view details
Montana Oral Health Workforce Assessment, 2024
Provides an overview of the oral health workforce in Montana. Includes information on the scope of practice, education and continuing education, and distribution within the state for dentists, dental hygienists, dental auxiliaries, and denturists. Covers county-level data on dental Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) by type. Discusses initiatives to expand dental education in Montana to meet the needs in rural areas.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
view details
Oral Health in Alabama: Unveiling the Burden and Pathways to Improvement
Reports on oral health in Alabama, highlighting issues across the lifespan, the relationship between oral health and other health conditions, protective factors, workforce, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and more. Discusses oral health disparities for particular groups including rural residents. Includes county-level data.
Author(s): Zachary W. Schulz
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organizations: Alabama Public Health, Oral Health Office
view details
2024 Mississippi Dental Safety-Net Providers
Provides information on Mississippi's Dental Care Safety Net and Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA). Includes a county-level map showing HPSA priority scores and Safety Net provider locations.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Mississippi State Department of Health
view details
Virginia Oral Health Workforce Gap Assessment
Report describing challenges in ensuring that all Virginians have equitable access oral healthcare, and offering an actionable framework for addressing them. Features statistics on the Virginia oral healthcare workforce, including numbers of dentists and dental hygienists, numbers of dentists treating Medicaid patients by year from 2012-2022, and a map showing dental Health Professional Shortage Areas. Includes information about the Virginia state loan repayment program for eligible providers.
Date: 12/2023
Sponsoring organization: Virginia Health Catalyst
view details
Prioritizing Primary Care: Twenty-first Annual Report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Congress
Offers policy and program development recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Congress regarding primary care training and education. Reviews the historical development of accelerated pathway programs for clinicians, physician assistants, and dentists, and program outcomes. Explores challenges related to securing an adequate number of clinical training sites, as well as recommendations to address this shortage. Outlines recommendations to support the training of more primary care clinicians who practice in underserved communities.
Date: 12/2023
Sponsoring organization: Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry
view details
Beyond the Waiting Room: The State of Dental Care Access in West Virginia
Discusses dental care access in West Virginia, highlighting workforce shortages and underserved populations including rural residents. Offers policy recommendations to decrease disparities including interprofessional care, reimbursement structures, and more.
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organizations: Harmony Health Foundation, West Virginia Oral Health Coalition
view details
COVID-19 Impact on Dental Service Delivery, Financing, Regulation, and Education Systems: An Environmental Scan
Describes the immediate and longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental care delivery, regulation, education, and finance. Mentions rural throughout.
Author(s): Margaret Langelier, Aubri Kottek, Theekshana Fernando, et al.
Date: 07/2023
Sponsoring organization: Oral Health Workforce Research Center
view details