Dentist shortage: an analysis of dentists, practices, and populations in the underserved areas.

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to identify and describe the characteristics of dental underserved geographic areas. Understanding these characteristics is an important step in addressing access to dental care barriers.

Methods: Dental underserved areas were identified from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) database and converted to census tracts for analysis. Characteristics of dental underserved geographic areas were compared with areas not designated as underserved. Dental practices included in the Dun & Bradstreet Business information database were geocoded and analyzed according to the underserved designation of their location and census demographic data. Thus, the relationships between dental underserved status, practice, and population characteristics were evaluated.

Results: Dental underserved areas are more likely to comprise individuals with lower socio-economic status (income and education levels), higher levels of underrepresented population groups, and have lower population densities than non-underserved areas. The populations living in dental underserved areas are more likely to experience geographic, financial, and educational barriers to dental care.

Conclusions: The study identifies the geographic and financial barriers to dental care access. These findings suggest that the likelihood of a market-driven solution to dental underserved geographic areas is low and support public sector interventions to improve the status quo.