Fall 2005 - UNC School of Dentistry - The University of North ...

A DENTAL HEALTH CRISISThe 1970s ushered in an eraof considerable growth in NorthCarolina. School systems, neighborhoodsand roadways groanedunder the demands of an increasingand changing citizenry. Thestate’s health care system likewisefelt the strain as more residentsrequired the services of the area’shospitals, physicians, pharmacistsand dentists.As the state’s populationboomed, the population of physiciansboomed along with it. In1979, there were 124 medicaldoctors for every 100,000 NorthCarolina citizens. By 1998, thatnumber had grown to 200.The same rate of growth wasnot seen among dentists. Forevery 100,000 North Carolinacitizens in 1979, there were 38dentists. Only 40 by 1998—wellbelow the nation’s ratio of 58dentists to 100,000 people.The stasis of the dental workforcemade obtaining access todental care difficult for manyNorth Carolinians living insmaller towns and rural communities.Local media began todocument the issue in townnewspapers.By the mid-1990s, the numberof North Carolinians lackingaccess to dental care was sufficientto capture the attentionof members of the health carecommunity and the Legislature.In 1999, the North CarolinaInstitutes of Medicine (NCIOM)developed the Task Force onDental Care Access to assess thestate of access to dental care inNorth Carolina.The Task Force findings weregrim. In dentist to populationratio, the state ranked 47th outof 50, and 79 counties in thestate were documented as federallyrecognized “Health CareShortage Areas.” Many ruralcommunities had or were losingdentists to retirement and manyof the new graduates who couldreplace them were opting toestablish practices in the state’smore urban communities.In a report to the NC GeneralAssembly, the NCIOM documentedthe burgeoning crisis andrecommended immediate actionto increase the number of practicingdentists in the state, as wellas to lure new or incoming dentiststo the state’s rural communitiesto establish their practices.The Legislature responded inits 2001 Session, enacting SenateBill 861. In it, among otherthings, the Senate looked to theUniversity of North Carolina tohelp the state solve the access tocare problem. The bill calledupon the University’s Board ofGovernors to study the feasibilityof establishing an additional statedental school versus increasingenrollment in the School ofcontinued onnext page5