Student debt and low reimbursements are leading Florida dentists to avoid practicing in rural communities, The Florida Times-Union reported July 25.
Eight things to know about dentistry in the state:
1. High dental care prices, low or no insurance coverage and workforce shortages have left residents with few options to access care.
2. Florida saw the highest rate of non-traumatic dental emergency room visits in 2020 for children aged 14 and below among 13 other states, according to a report from CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.
3. The state also had the highest bills for emergency visits, ranging from $1,900 to $2,600 on average, depending on the age of the child. Medicaid covered 80.6 percent of them, the news organization reported.
4. Dental care prices increased by nearly 10 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to the Consumer Price Index.
5. Nearly 8 in 10 dentists in the state do not accept Medicaid, mainly because the reimbursement rates are too low, according to the state health department.
6. Only one of Florida's 67 counties has enough dentists to treat all of its patients, according to an April report by the Tampa Bay Times.
7. Less than 5 percent of dentists in the state work in publicly funded dental offices and community clinics.
8. The average dental school debt per graduate was $304,824 in 2020, according to the American Dental Association.