The numbers cited in Delta Dental's Future Workforce Fund white paper are striking: projected deficits of nearly 12,000 general dentists and 30,000 hygienists by 2037. Additionally, this worker shortage is paired with cultural disparities -- only only 3.8% of dentists are Black and 6% are Hispanic -- figures that have barely moved in two decades despite significant population growth in those communities.
But for Dr. Nicole McGrath-Barnes, founder and CEO of Kindersmile Foundation, a nonprofit providing oral healthcare access to uninsured and underinsured residents of northern New Jersey, these numbers don't describe a future problem, they describe the present.
Dr. Nicole McGrath-Barnes.
In this episode of The DrBicuspid.com Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Kevin Henry sits down with Dr. McGrath-Barnes for a candid conversation about the white paper's findings, what the data reveal about structural barriers in dental education and public health dentistry, and what it will take for the industry to respond at the scale the problem demands.
On the workforce deficit, McGrath-Barnes is direct: Dental professional shortage areas in New Jersey -- and across the U.S. -- are already a reality, and the pipeline into public health dentistry is thin. Few dental schools actively promote public health careers, and those who do are often U.S. National Health Service Corps scholars who were identified before dental school. More programs, more intentional promotion of public health dentistry as a career path, and more connections between students and underserved communities are needed now, not in a decade, she says.
On the diversity gap, McGrath-Barnes points to an underappreciated dimension of the problem: Patients in Black and Hispanic communities are more likely to seek care from providers who look like them, producing better health outcomes. When that representation is absent -- and when the cost of dental education continues to rise -- those communities are left without adequate access. Her answer to the problems entails accelerated seven-year Bachelor of Science/Doctor of Dental Surgery programs, such as those offered by schools like Tennessee State and Meharry, that reduce the financial burden and attract more students into the profession.
And on the coordination challenge -- the white paper's call for collective, industry-wide action -- McGrath-Barnes names the obstacle plainly: silos. Private practitioners, dental schools, public health dentists, associations, and insurers are all working independently when the problem demands collaboration.
The Delta Dental Future Workforce Fund white paper is linked above. Learn more about the Kindersmile Foundation.
Listen to the full conversation below.
