Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas

The Health Resources and Services Administration maintains a classification system to assess shortages of oral health care providers in small geographic areas. Scores are allotted out of 26 points, with higher scores indicating greater shortage. Scores are a composite based on the local population to provider ratio, travel distance to nearest provider, poverty level, and presence of fluoridated community water. These Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas may be designated to the entire population living within the area or restricted to certain types of people living there (e.g. migrant workers or low-income people).

Illinois Observations:

• Most shortage areas are assigned specifically to the low-income or Medicaid populations in counties or census groups, not the general population.
• More than half the land in the state is designated with a dentist shortage. Half of these shortage areas need only one or two additional dentists to reach the target population-provider ratio of 4,000:1.
• The areas of the state needing the most additional dentists include the South, West, and Near North sides of Chicago and the Counties of Champaign, Tazewell, and Winnebago.