Saturday, January 1, 2022

The Southeast's Dental Care Shortage

December 31, 2021, data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) indicated that more than 64.2 million Americans lived in communities or settings designated as a dental health professional shortage area (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 under 39% of the U.S. population who lived in dental care shortage areas.  The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Southeast would need 4,457 more dentists in order to eliminate the dental care shortage in the region.  This shortfall represented almost 40% 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
The Southeast's Dental Care Shortage

State (1) HPSAs (2) Population (3) Shortage
AL 84 1,828,616 376
AR 99 598,518 106
FL 256 5,704,238 1,270
GA 188 2,165,067 442
KY 162 781,024 166
LA 152 2,123,398 245
MS 149 1,835,119 210
NC 198 3,522,832 626
SC 93 1,870,554 263
TN 144 2,307,701 405
VA 120 1,325,326 204
WV 112 805,922 144
Region 1,757 24,868,315 4,457
U.S. 6,803 64,236,250 11,181

(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, 12/31/21 (HRSA)

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