Do NHSC Dentist Alumni Remain in the Oral Health Safety Net?
Background and objectives: Oral health care access remains a problem in North Carolina and the Southeast. Only 1 in 5 North Carolina dentists has 10 or more Medicaid patients per quarter, but higher Medicaid participation rates were found among minority dentists, pediatric dentists, and those in rural areas (Mayer, 2000) and among NHSC dentist alumni nationally (Mofidi et al., 2002). Since 1980, the NHSC has placed over 350 dentists in underserved areas across the US, but fewer than 100 have been deployed to DHHS Region IV where 55 million people have about 30,000 dentists – 1 dentist per 1850 population, less than a 1:1,500 ratio nationally. Because few state-funded health professional service obligation loan programs target dentists (Pathman, et al 2000a, 2000b), the NHSC is likely to remain a major source of oral healthcare safety net workforce in the region and nationally. This two-year project investigates whether NHSC alumni are more likely than other similar dentists to continue
