Franklin County sees little impact from statewide shortage of dental professionals

It’s easier to get dental care in Franklin County than some parts of the state, local dentists and a state report say.

“We’re in great shape,” Richard Hale, a dentist with an office at 1136 W. 15th St., said.

Ottawa’s location in eastern Kansas and near larger cities like Kansas City is one of the reasons Hale thinks Franklin County is able to provide enough dentists to meet the community’s needs.

But that isn’t the situation in some parts of the state, particularly more rural areas like in western Kansas.

Most counties in the western half of the state face a shortage of dental professionals, including dentists and dental hygenists. In 2009, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment designated 91 Kansas counties as dental professional shortage areas, meaning the number of dentists practicing in the area is not sufficient to meet the needs of the population.

Franklin County is not on that list. Anderson County, to the south, made the list because it lacks dentists that accept Medicaid.

“We’ve always had an adequate supply of dentists,” Hale said. “I think that will continue.”

The state health department released a report this week about the role dental professionals will play in the future of Kansas health care.

Rural areas will face a serious shortage of dental professionals in the next three to five years, the report found.

Small and rural communities often face the challenge of recruiting a dentist and their staff, and many people go without access to services because they lack a provider or the distance to one is too great, the state health department reported.

The department’s Bureau of Oral Health released a statewide Oral Health Assessment for 2009 earlier this week to look at some of the factors that affect dentists and other dental professionals.

“Dentists and dental hygienists are essential to public health efforts in Kansas. They not only treat and prevent dental diseases, but also participate in prevention and wellness efforts, such as tobacco cessation and nutritional counseling,” Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, state health officer and director of health at KDHE, said.

Some of the findings in thereport include:

• Frontier and small rural areas of Kansas will face a significant shortage of dentists in the next three to five years because there are fewer dentists in these communities and many plan to retire during this time.

• In general, dentists do not make plans to retire as many professionals do in other fields. Among those who have a practice for sale, finding a buyer is challenging. For those who plan to retire, many want to find an associate. In certain areas, those seeking an associate are discovering it difficult to find one.

• The current primary care dentist and hygienist workforces do not resemble the population of Kansas racially or ethnically. Research shows that minority patients have better outcomes when they are served by a medical or dental practitioner of their own race/ethnicity.

The authors of the report will discuss the results 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Wichita, in conjunction with the Kansas Public Health Association Conference.