Research Alert: June 25, 2026

Rural vs. Urban Patterns of Dental Care Services and Outcomes Among Medicaid-Enrolled Children in Early Childhood

This brief reports rural vs. urban patterns of preventive services, restorative or surgical dental services, and incidence rates of dental caries in 2021 and 2022 among Medicaid-enrolled children ages 2 to 5.

Key Findings:

• The majority of rural children did not receive two dental cleanings per year as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (2021: 85.9%, 2022: 78.8%). Most suburban (2021: 86.4%, 2022: 79.0%) and urban children (2021: 86.8%, 2022: 79.6%) did not receive two dental cleanings per year.
• Rural children had more restorative dental services (i.e., fillings and crowns) per year (2021: 12.6%, 2022: 19.5%) than suburban (2021: 10.9%, 2022: 17.3%) and urban (2021: 10.4%, 2022: 16.6%) children.
• Rural children had the highest incidence of caries (i.e., tooth decay) diagnosed per year (2021: 4.4%, 2022: 5.2%) when compared to suburban (2021: 4.1%, 2022: 4.9%) and urban (2021: 3.6%, 2022: 3.4%) children.

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More FORHP-funded research on Children and adolescents, Oral health
• More information about the University of South Carolina Rural Health Research Center
• More information from the Rural Health Information Hub's topic guide: Oral Health