Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Oral Health in Rural Communities – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Oral Health in Rural Communities.

Congruence Between County Dental Health Provider Shortage Area Designations and the Social Vulnerability Index
Provides visual comparisons of the relationship between Dental Health Provider Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2020 Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) designations on county-level U.S. maps. Includes table showing median county-level SVI score by HPSA designation, broken down by metro, nonmetro, and all county.
Author(s): Gabriel A. Benavidez, Elizabeth Crouch, Joni Nelson, Amy Martin
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 21
Date: 06/2024
Type: Document
view details
Examining the Dental Care Crisis in America: How Can We Make Dental Care More Affordable and More Available?
Recording of a May 16, 2024, U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions hearing on the accessibility and affordability of dental care, including in rural areas. Features testimony from the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.
Additional links: Myechia Minter-Jordan, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health - Testimony
Date: 05/2024
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
view details
Pediatric Oral Health Online Education for Rural and Migrant Head Start Programs in the United States
Presents a study on the efficacy of an online oral health workshop conducted by pediatric dental residents for Head Start staff, teachers and families in rural and migrant communities. Explores the program's effect on pediatric oral health literacy in rural and migrant communities, as well as the residents' opinions about potentially working in these communities after their residency.
Author(s): Francisco Ramos-Gomez, Stephanie Parkinson, Victor Garcia de Jesus, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(5), 544
Date: 04/2024
Type: Document
view details
Health Professional Shortage Areas: Dental Care
Printable map that shows nonmetropolitan and micropolitan dental care HPSAs on one color scale and metropolitan dental care HPSAs on another. Data source: data.HRSA.gov
Date: 04/2024
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
Experiences with and Outcomes of Oral Health Care - Perspectives from Nationally Representative Data
Report discusses the outcomes and experiences with oral healthcare from patients across the United States surveyed in January - February 2023. Details patients experience with access to care, attitudes about co-location of oral healthcare and other types of care, value-based care, telehealth usage, and discrimination in healthcare, among other topics. Breaks down demographic data of survey participants by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity, among other measures.
Author(s): Lisa J. Heaton, Morgan Santoro, Paige Martin, Eric P. Tranby
Date: 03/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: CareQuest Institute for Oral Health
view details
Still Searching: Meeting Oral Health Needs in Rural Settings
Report discusses oral health access in rural areas. Compares barriers to care in rural, suburban, and urban communities. Highlights teledentistry use and insurance rates, among other factors.
Author(s): Paige Martin, Morgan Santoro, Lisa J. Heaton, et al.
Date: 11/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: CareQuest Institute for Oral Health
view details
Hunger Pains: How Food Insecurity Affects Oral Health
Report discusses the ways food insecurity affects oral health outcomes. Highlights populations suffering from food insecurity and compares rural and urban populations. Details the oral health disparities that correlate with food insecurity.
Author(s): Paige Martin, Morgan Santoro, Lisa J. Heaton, et al.
Date: 09/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: CareQuest Institute for Oral Health
view details
Oral Health Among Medicare Beneficiaries in Nursing Homes
Evaluated oral health among 2,355,366 Medicare beneficiaries living in nursing homes. Highlights characteristics associated with specific types of dental issues including age, gender, race and ethnicity, rurality, and more.
Author(s): Steffany Chamut, Carla Shoff, Kristiana Yao, Lee A. Fleisher, Natalia I. Chalmers
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(9)
Date: 09/2023
Type: Document
view details
COVID-19 Impact on Dental Service Delivery, Financing, Regulation, and Education Systems: An Environmental Scan
Describes the immediate and longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental care delivery, regulation, education, and finance. Mentions rural throughout.
Author(s): Margaret Langelier, Aubri Kottek, Theekshana Fernando, et al.
Date: 07/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Oral Health Workforce Research Center
view details
Oral Health Disparities Through the Lifespan: Challenges and Opportunities
Recording of a June 7, 2023, conference session on oral health disparities as part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Health Equity Conference. Features a presentation from the CMS Office of the Administrator comparing differences in rural and urban dental opioid prescribing to adolescent/young adult and adult Medicaid/CHIP enrollees by patient and county characteristics. Transcript available by clicking the dots above the video description, then selecting Show transcript.
Additional links: Carla Shoff, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of the Administrator - Presentation Slides
Date: 06/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
view details

Additional resources are available related to this guide. See the full list of resources by topic for:


Last Updated: 6/28/2024