From March 31, 2025 data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), more than 59.7 million Americans were living in settings designated as dental health professional shortage areas (HPSA).  A dental health HPSA is a facility, geographic area, or population group, where access to basic dental care is deemed substandard because there is a shortfall in the number of dentists serving the area relative to the size of the HPSA's population.  Per 3/31/25 HRSA data, dental care shortfall areas in the seven-state Great Plains region totaled more than 4 million residents.  The HRSA estimated that the region would need 675 more dentists to fully eliminate the dental care shortfall in the region's HPSAs.  From 3/31/25 HRSA data, here is a summary breakdown of the dental care shortfall in the Great Plains region of the U.S.:

The Dental Care Shortfall in the Great Plains Region

State	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortfall
IA	140	483,912	98
KS	129	288,859	50
MN	194	991,583	130
MO	321	1,761,565	334
NE	112	134,922	12
ND	67	116,532	12
SD	90	240,488	39
Region	1,053	4,017,861	675
U.S.	7,054	59,718,174	10,143

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

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Dental Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 3/31/25 (HRSA)