Dental Shortage Area Designations Top 8,000 in Latest HRSA Count

Posted: October 30, 2026

Dental Shortage Area Designations Top 8,000 in Latest HRSA Count

Edited by Dentaltown staff

The number of federally designated dental health professional shortage areas has passed 8,000, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s quarterly shortage area summary, with data as of Sept. 30.

HRSA counted 8,027 dental shortage area designations covering about 78.3 million people. The agency estimated that 13,145 additional dental practitioners would be needed to remove all of the designations, and that available practitioners meet 32.9% of the need in designated areas.

At the end of 2025, HRSA’s figures showed 7,443 dental shortage area designations covering about 63.7 million people, with 10,744 practitioners needed, according to KFF’s compilation of the agency’s data.

Most of the designations are in rural areas. HRSA classified 5,142, or 64.1%, as rural, 2,193 as non-rural, and 643 as partially rural.

A dental shortage area designation generally requires a population-to-dentist ratio of at least 5,000 to 1, or 4,000 to 1 where needs are unusually high. Designations can cover a geographic area, a population group such as low-income residents, or a facility such as a federally qualified health center. State primary care offices conduct the needs assessments and submit applications to HRSA.

The totals include designations proposed for withdrawal, and because the populations of different designations can overlap, some individuals may be counted more than once.

Sources:
Health Resources and Services Administration, “Designated Health Professional Shortage Areas Statistics: Fourth Quarter of Fiscal Year 2026,” data as of Sept. 30, 2026:
data.hrsa.gov/Default/GenerateHPSAQuarterlyReport
Health Resources and Services Administration, Health Workforce Shortage Areas:
data.hrsa.gov/topics/health-workforce/shortage-areas
KFF, “Dental Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs),” data as of Dec. 31, 2025:
kff.org/state-indicator/dental-care-hpsas


Dental Shortage Area Designations Top 8,000 in Latest HRSA Count

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