Research Alert: March 26, 2026

Dentist Workforce and Dental Care Utilization in the Rural and Urban U.S.

Rural communities face challenges in accessing dental care. A key factor affecting dental care access is the shortages of dentists in rural communities. The purpose of this study was to examine the rural-urban dentist supply and whether rural adults have lower dental care utilization in a national sample.

Key Findings:

• The generalist dentist supply per 100,000 population was lower in rural areas (30.0) compared to urban areas (50.3) in 2021. Among rural counties, the generalist dentist supply per 100,000 population was lower in noncore counties (25.5) compared to micropolitan (37.2) counties.
• While 13.9% of the population resided in rural areas, only 8.8% of the generalist dentist supply worked in rural areas in 2021.
• A lower percentage of adults in rural areas reported having a dental visit in the past year (56.4%) compared to adults living in urban areas (65.9%).
• Nearly a quarter of rural and urban respondents (21.7%) reported delaying dental care due to cost in the past year, and almost one-fifth (17.3%) of rural and urban respondents reported not getting dental care due to cost in the previous year.
• After adjusting for sociodemographic and county-level characteristics without including county per capita dental supply, both micropolitan and noncore residents were less likely to have had a dental visit in the past year compared to urban residents. After controlling for county dental supply, these differences were no longer statistically significant.

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More FORHP-funded research on Oral health, Workforce
• More information about the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guide: Oral Health