Summary of Where Alabama's Dental School Graduates Practice: Rural vs. Urban and Dental Workforce Needs.

Objectives

Rural communities have substantial dental workforce needs. Alabama has the nation's fewest dentists per capita, and almost half of its residents reside in rural areas. Understanding where dental school graduates practice helps inform workforce needs.

Methods

This cross-sectional study explored practice locations for graduates from the state's dental school (N = 1233). This study utilized both national and institutional data sources to investigate graduates' practice locations across multiple definitions of rural.

Results

Sixty-four percent of all active 2000-2020 UAB SOD graduates are across 52 of Alabama's 67 counties, 10 of which house a single graduate. Of these Alabama practitioners, 19% practice in a rural area, a significantly greater percentage than those practicing in rural areas in other states. Only 27 graduates in this sample indicated a practice location in one of the 22 Alabama counties designated as urgent, critical, or high need on a scale of dental workforce shortage areas. Twelve of these 22 counties were not represented at all among practice locations. Approximately 64% of the counties with high shortage indices had rural designations. These findings position UAB SOD in the top 12% of the 58 US dental schools producing rural dentists for which comparable data were available.

Conclusions

Early- and mid-career dentists in Alabama are more likely to practice in rural areas than those practicing elsewhere. Eighteen percent of Alabama's 67 counties do not have a single practice location represented among recent graduates. Although valuable, rural designation alone is a necessary but insufficient reflection of areas with significant dental workforce needs.