Dentist Shortage?

[Dent5291]

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http://www.dental-tribune.com/articles/news/americas/28294_dentist_shortage_in_the_us_to_worsen.html

Hopefully there is some truth to this but if not this rhetoric is pretty harmful to the field. It's stuff like this that encourages five new dental schools in the next five years and more dental therapist legislation.

Thoughts?

 

[Advance]

Even if this is the case, schools open up every year now so the problem will fix itself eventually.

 

[JLT223]

Nobody wants to go work in rural South Dakota. That's half the problem. Cost of care is also a huge barrier. Theres plenty of people who simply can't afford quality dental care yet live within a 3 minute drive of several offices.

 

[frozenicecreamDMD]

dentist shortage -> more private schools open -> high student debt -> high cost of dental care -> patients can't afford dental care -> patients dont go

this is different than patients have no access to dentists nearby (though for some regions, this is true)