A finding shows that about 1.7 million people in the U.S. did not have access to dental clinics within a 30-minute drive, and 24.7 million lived in dental care shortage areas.
The analysis published on the JAMA Network on Dec. 23 made the finding after a cross-sectional study of 205,762 U.S. dentists.
Access to dental clinics became even more problematic when it comes to rural areas and those impacted by “high levels of segregation and socioeconomic deprivation.”
“Little is known about the spatial accessibility to dental clinics across the U.S.,” the study said, highlighting the importance of this finding, especially when charting dental workforce planning efforts at both federal and state levels.
The data used was from the IQVIA national practitioners’ database from November 2023 to April 2024.
Key findings on disparities:
- Rural areas had 1 dentist for every 3,850 people, compared to 1 dentist for every 1,470 people in urban areas.
- 387 counties reported significant disparities in access to dental clinics.
- Rural block groups were 23.9 percentage points more likely to experience dental care shortages.
- Block groups with higher levels of Black (1.5 pp) and Hispanic (4.5 pp) segregation faced greater shortages.
- Areas with high socioeconomic deprivation had 5.5 percentage points more shortages.
- Rural counties (11.3 pp), counties with high uninsured populations (3.0 pp), and counties with high deprivation (5.8 pp) faced greater inequality in access to dental clinics.
In October, a Canadian population-based study published in BMC Health Services Research highlighted similar disparities in dental care access. The study analyzed data from the 2021 census and reported an active oral health workforce of 12,380 dentists, 20,885 dental hygienists and therapists, and 19,780 dental assistants aged 25–54. Geographic imbalances were evident, with only 10% of dentists practicing in rural areas despite 17% of the population living there.
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