December 31, 2022, data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) indicated that more than 69.7 million Americans lived in communities or settings designated as dental health professional shortage areas (HPSA).  A dental health HPSA is a population group, geographic area, or facility with substandard dental care access because too few dentists serve the area relative to the size of the HPSA population.  HPSAs in the twelve-state Southeastern region of the country accounted for just over 37% of the U.S. population who lived in dental care shortage areas.  The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Southeast would need 4,609 more dentists in order to eliminate the dental care shortage in the region.  This shortfall represented about 38.7% of the nation's dental care shortage.  Here is a summary look at the Southeast's dental care shortage:

The Southeast's Dental Care Shortage

State	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortage
AL	87	1,830,719	377
AR	113	620,722	108
FL	276	5,996,488	1,305
GA	190	2,157,754	445
KY	191	940,530	199
LA	171	2,265,236	282
MS	175	2,031,618	228
NC	204	3,728,767	668
SC	99	1,872,297	263
TN	147	2,211,612	369
VA	132	1,442,611	220
WV	120	808,663	145
Region	1,905	25,907,017	4,609
U.S.	7,313	69,766,605	11,909

(1) Designated Geographic, Population Group, and Facility HPSAs with a dental care shortage

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Dental Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 12/31/22 (HRSA)