The US Department of Health and Human Services regularly reports on areas that experience over-saturation and shortages for certain health professionals. The challenge is providing a delicate balance of enough new dentists coming out in the right geographic area of the country and not creating too many oversupply areas as well.
And while this delicate balance is measured on a market by market basis, here is a simplified version on a state by state basis according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
The math equation is pretty simple. For dentists, the ratio is 1 dentist is needed for every 5,000 people. Nationally, the US shortage of dentists is estimated to be 7,300. The challenge is that certain areas of the country are growing rapidly while certain metropolitan areas are declining in population.
States that need dentists the most
- Florida – needs 933 dentists – has just 3 dental schools
- Arizona – need 432 dentists – has just 2 dental schools in Arizona
- Texas – needs 402 dentists – has just 3 dental schools in Texas
- Illinois – needs 399 dentists – has just 3 dental schools in Illinois
- Georgia – needs 354 dentists – has just 1 dental school in Georgia
- Tennessee – needs 341 dentists – has just 2 dental schools in Tennessee
- Pennsylvania – needs 310 dentists – has just 3 dental schools in Pennsylvania
- North Carolina – needs 304 dentists – has just 2 dental schools in NC
- Alabama – needs 303 dentists – has just 1 dental school in AL
- New York – needs 302 dentists – has just 4 dental schools in NY
Over the past five years (as measured by US Census), below are the corresponding population changes for the top five states that need more dentists.
- Florida – +7.8%
- Arizona – +6.8%
- Texas – +9.2%
- Illinois – +0.2%
- Georgia – +5.4%
And within Florida and Texas, think about these cities growing over the past five years:
Fastest Growing Cities in Florida Fastest Growing Cities in Texas
The Villages – +26.1% Midland – +17.6%
Ft Myers – +13.1% Odessa – +16.3%
Orlando – Kissimmee – +11.7% Austin – +15.8%
Ft Walton – Destin – +11.1% Houston – +11.9%
Naples – Marco Island – +10.7%
The reality is that population shifts can change much faster than the migration of dental practices and dental schools. If you are a young dentist seeking to move into a rapidly growing city, then I would highly recommend contacting an established Dental CPA Firm that understands the rapidly growing areas. Here are a few Dental CPA Firms worth contacting. Each of these firms has a program for new dentists and can quickly put your touch with the right dental experts locally ranging from dental real estate to dental law to dental lending to dental insurance.
Florida Dental CPA Firm – Central/South – Peter Freuler Jr CPA – www.medical-cpafirm.com
Florida Dental CPA Firm – North/Panhandle – Mark Sizemore CPA – www.dental-cpafirm.com
Texas Dental CPA Firm – Mike C Manoloff CPA – www.cpa-dentists.com
Illinois Dental CPA Firm – 1st Chicago Accounting – www.1stdentalcpa.com
Georgia Dental CPA Firm – R. Lee Pennington CPA – www.atlanta-dentalcpa.com
North Carolina Dental CPA Firm – Robert Gomez CPA – www.cpadentists.com
New York Dental CPA Firm – Mark Feinsot CPA – www.dentists-cpafirm.com
California Dental CPA Firm – San Diego – MW Orlando CPA – www.calcpa4dentists.com
California Dental CPA Firm – Los Angeles – The Rosson CPA – www.caldentalcpa.com
California Dental CPA Firm – Orange County – Morey & Assoc CPA – www.mydentistcpa.com
California Dental CPA Firm – Central / San Jose – Only for Dentists – www.onlyfordentists.com
Colorado Dental CPA Firm – Gheen & Co CPA – www.dentistcpafirm.com
Ohio Dental CPA Firm – Central / South – Siebert & Reynolds, CPA – www.cpa-for-dentists.com
Ohio Dental CPA Firm – Michigan Dental CPA – Overwatch Dental CPA’s – www.overwatchltd.com