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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Dental workforce

Expanding the Dental Team: Studies of Two Private Practices
Analyzes two dental practices: Main Street Dental Care in Montevideo, MN, and Battlefords Dental Group in Saskatchewan, Canada. Also highlights dental therapists in Alaska. Discusses dentists being able to serve more privately insured and underserved patients, the increase in children and families who are able to get dental care who often go without, and how dental therapists help address critical problems surrounding access to dental care.
Date: 02/2014
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Pew Charitable Trusts
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Early Impacts of Dental Therapists in Minnesota
Evaluates the impact of dental therapists on the delivery of and access to oral health services in Minnesota from 2009 through 2014. Includes a rural and urban comparison on the effects of dental therapists on patient wait times and distances traveled for dental appointments.
Date: 02/2014
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Minnesota Department of Health - Office of Rural Health and Primary Care
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Effects of a Proposed Rural Dental School on Regional Dental Workforce and Access to Care
Analyzes a policy proposal to determine if the creation of a rural-based dental school in southwest Virginia would be a solution to improve the size of the dental workforce and oral health outcomes in the region.
Author(s): Tanya Wanchek, Terance Rephann
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 13(2), 2366
Date: 05/2013
Type: Document
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Promising Practices to Improve Access to Oral Health Care in Rural Communities
Identifies and discusses promising practices for developing an oral health program in rural areas, including information on barriers to accessing oral healthcare, evaluation and sustainability of oral health programs, and recruiting dentists to rural areas.
Author(s): Alycia Bayne, Alana Knudson, Arika Garg, Makda Kassahun
Date: 02/2013
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
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Priming the Pump of Primary Care: Ninth Annual Report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and to Congress
Offers several policy and program development recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Recommendations are specifically designed to create a strong rural healthcare workforce through improved training opportunities in rural primary care medicine and dentistry.
Date: 02/2012
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry
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Increasing Access to Oral Health Care for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Rural Oregon
Describes a program, Innovations in Oral Health Care Initiative, that works to expand oral healthcare services to individuals living with HIV/AIDS in rural Oregon through collaboration with a dental hygiene school and a dental case manager to help provide access to services. Includes service delivery activities and descriptive roles for each provider.
Author(s): Jill Jones, Mahyar Mofidi, Helene Bednarsh, Alan Gambrell, Carol R. Tobias
Citation: Public Health Reports, 17(Suppl 2), 65-72
Date: 2012
Type: Document
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An Analysis of Oral Health Disparities and Access to Services in the Appalachian Region
Analyzes disparities in oral health status and access to oral healthcare in the Appalachian Region. Examines relationships between oral health disparities and socioeconomic status indicators. Focuses on aiding efforts to develop targeted interventions to reduce disparities in Appalachia.
Author(s): Denise D. Krause, Warren L. May, Nancy M. Lane, et al.
Date: 12/2011
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Appalachian Regional Commission, The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research
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Water Fluoridation and Dental Health Indicators in Rural and Urban Areas of the United States
Investigates the availability of fluoridated water across urban-rural settings, and relates measures of fluoride availability to national survey measures of dental health in adults and children.
Additional links: Policy Brief
Author(s): Michael Hendryx, Constance Weiner, Matthew Gurka
Date: 11/2011
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
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Improving Access to Oral Health Care for Vulnerable and Underserved Populations
Presents a vision for how to improve oral health care for vulnerable and underserved populations, and recommends ways to achieve this vision. Chapters include oral health status, workforce, expenditures, health care delivery, and oral health settings.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 2011
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Influence of Loan Repayment on Rural Healthcare Provider Recruitment and Retention in Colorado
Reports results of a survey of health professionals who participated in three Colorado loan repayment programs between 1992 and 2007. Examines the most important recruitment factors for participants by rural versus urban location and profession. Covers factors impacting participants' decisions to leave a community, after the end of their service obligation.
Author(s): Daniel Renner, John Westfall, Lou Ann Wilroy, Adit Ginde
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 10(4), 1605
Date: 11/2010
Type: Document
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