September 2020 data published by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reveals that almost 60 million Americans live in dental care shortage areas. These areas, called Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) by the HRSA, are geographic areas, population groups, or facilities where access to dental health care services is substandard because of a lack of dental 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 designated shortage areas have a population-to-provider ratio that meets or exceeds certain limits 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 underserved 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 770 HPSAs in the Southwest region of the country account for about 11.9% of the U.S. population who live in dental care shortage areas and approximately 10.5% of the national shortage of dental care providers. The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Southwest would need more than 1,100 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 Southwest region of the United States:
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The Dental Care Shortage in the Southwest |
| State | (1) HPSAs | (2) Population | (3) Shortage |
| AZ | 208 | 2,338.2 | 380 |
| NM | 98 | 889.5 | 174 |
| OK | 164 | 852.5 | 138 |
| TX | 302 | 3,035.0 | 431 |
| Region | 772 | 7,115.2 | 1,123 |
| U.S. | 6,487 | 59,941.1 | 10,716 |
