New York's Oral Health Shortage: The Case for a New Dental School
With its fewest dentists since 2001 and 92% of rural counties designated as shortage areas, New York's oral health crisis is deepening. We break down the numbers and what it will take to reverse them.
2 min read
The state of New York is currently experiencing distinct oral health challenges resulting from a shortage of dentists. A total of 164 designated Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas (DHPSAs) are present throughout the state, affecting 2,779,530 residents. Within these areas, only 16.15% of need is met. Over 588 additional dentists are needed to remove these designations (HRSA).
This issue is even more prominent in rural areas throughout the state. Of rural counties, 92% are partly or fully designated as DHPSAs (HFWCNY). The dentist to 10,000 population ratio for rural counties is 3.6, less than half of the state’s overall ratio of 8.3. Further, all rural counties are below this statewide ratio. As a specific example, Franklin County has one dentist per 106,321 people, equivalent to 0.9 dentists per 10,00 people (OSC-NY). In the Mohawk Valley and North Country regions, 87.7% and 81.1% of their population respectively reside in high-need oral health areas, compared to just 14% statewide (CHWSNY).
This crisis is worsening as well, as the state has experienced a 5.2% decrease in dentists per 100,000 population since 2014 (ADA). Further, the state has its lowest number of dentists since 2001, the earliest year contained in the ADA data file. This considered, at least one new dental school is needed in order to address this historic shortage. Given that four of the six dental schools in the state are private and feature an average cost of attendance of around $625,962 (reaching up to $694,168), this new dental school must be designed to minimize graduate debt in order to make it feasible for new dentists to practice in the rural areas where shortages are worst.
As dentists continue to retire and access to oral care becomes increasingly out of reach for millions, the shortage will only deepen. A dental school embedded in the communities that need it offers a proven path forward. East Carolina University has demonstrated that this model improves health outcomes while generating lasting economic benefits in the areas where students learn and practice. As new dental practices in underserved communities create five jobs per dentist (Ruralhealthworkforce), expanding the dental workforce in these areas can also produce multi-million dollar economic impacts for the individuals and communities served. Investing in a school like this is not just an investment in oral health, it is an investment in the long-term physical and financial wellbeing of New Yorkers in the communities that need it most.
