Federal Funding Expands Community-Based Dental Residencies in Underserved Areas

Posted: June 5, 2026

Federal Funding Expands Community-Based Dental Residencies in Underserved Areas

Edited by Dentaltown staff

Federal investments in community-based residency training are expanding dental education in rural and underserved areas, supporting programs designed to recruit and retain dentists where shortages are greatest, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Through HRSA’s Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program and a companion Teaching Health Center Planning and Development program, community health centers are building dental residencies based in outpatient settings rather than traditional hospital-centered ones. The THCGME program, created in 2011, expanded to include dentistry in 2021.

HRSA reports the program is funding 1,254 residents across 88 community-based residency programs in the 2024-25 academic year. Since 2011, more than 3,090 physicians and dentists have completed THCGME-supported training, including 155 advanced general dentists. Most clinical training sites are in medically underserved communities.

Program leaders said the model is built to place trainees in the communities that need them, pointing to research that clinicians are more likely to practice in underserved or rural settings after training there. A recent national study of more than 56,000 dentists, cited in the report, found that education- and training-related factors significantly predicted whether dentists practiced in federally qualified health centers, dental shortage areas, and rural communities.

The companion planning program provides startup grants of about $500,000 per awardee to help health centers develop curricula, recruit faculty, and obtain accreditation. Leaders said sustaining the residencies depends on continued federal support; Congress recently extended the THCGME program, which had been set to expire in January.

The ADA has advocated for federal programs that strengthen the dental workforce and expand access to care. HRSA also funds a technical assistance center to help health centers launch and sustain dental residencies.

Sources:
ADA News, “Federal funding sparks new dental workforce in underserved communities,” by Olivia Anderson, June 2, 2026: adanews.ada.org/ada-news/2026/june/federal-funding-sparks-new-dental-workforce
Health Resources and Services Administration, “Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME)”: bhw.hrsa.gov/funding/…/teaching-health-center-graduate-medical-education


Federal Funding Expands Community-Based Dental Residencies in Underserved Areas

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