•April 11, 2018•

By Wendell Potter,
Rural Health News Service

Access to dental care is a serious and worsening health problem in rural America. But now many states are beginning to enact legislation that could ease the pain.

The federal government says 63 million Americans live in dental deserts — areas where few if any dentists practice — and that more than half of those who live in the deserts are in rural areas.

Hundreds of counties throughout the United States have no dentist, meaning residents often have to drive long distances for dental care. https://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/topics/shortageAreas.aspx

Nebraska is among the states with a severe shortage of dentists, at least in its rural areas. The state has designated more than half of its 93 counties as general dentistry shortage areas. In 2012, according to a study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, 20 Nebraska counties did not have a single dentist. (https://www.unmc.edu/publichealth/chp/research/2013-access-to-oral-health-care-in-nebraska.pdf)     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.