Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) data from September 2020 reveals that almost 60 million Americans live in dental care shortage areas. These areas, known by the HRSA as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA), are geographic areas, population groups, or facilities where access to healthcare services is substandard because of a lack of primary care, dental care, or mental health care providers. With respect to dental care, HRSA designation is based upon the number of people living within the HPSA relative to the number of dentists and dental auxiliaries (any non-dentist staff employed by the dentist to assist in the operation of the practice) that service the area. Although the population-to-provider ratio needed to qualify for dental care shortage designation varies by HPSA type (geographic, population or facility), all HPSAs so designated have a population-to-provider ratio that meets or exceeds certain thresholds set by federal regulations. HRSA designated dental care shortage areas are eligible to participate in federal programs aimed at attracting more dental care providers to work with these communities. Nearly 6,500 areas or settings qualified with the HRSA as a dental care shortage area as of September 2020. To eliminate all such shortage designations, the HRSA estimates that these HPSAs would need about 10,700 additional dental care providers.
More than 800 HPSAs in the Great Lakes region account for about 14.0% of the U.S. population who live in dental care shortage areas and approximately 14.3% of the national shortage of dental care providers. The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Great Lakes region would need more than 1,500 additional dental care providers in order to eliminate the dental care shortage in the region. Here is a summary look at the dental care shortage in the Great Lakes region of the United States:
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| The Dental Care Shortage in the Great Lakes Region |
| State | (1) HPSAs | (2) Population | (3) Shortage |
| IL | 208 | 2,303.6 | 381 |
| IN | 104 | 1,304.4 | 227 |
| MI | 243 | 1,732.9 | 420 |
| OH | 145 | 1,802.1 | 302 |
| WI | 111 | 1,226.4 | 206 |
| Region | 811 | 8,369.4 | 1,536 |
| U.S. | 6,487 | 59,941.1 | 10,716 |
