Dental workforce decreasing in Pa.
While it’s not likely that you — or anyone you know — actually enjoys going to the dentist, oral health is an important aspect of one’s overall health picture.
That’s why a recent report produced by the Pennsylvania Coalition for Oral Health has many in the dentistry profession concerned — particularly for those who live in rural communities such as those that populate Butler County.
According to Part II of the report, released earlier this year, the state’s rural counties have seen steady attrition in the dental ranks, and it’s expected that more is on the way. Specifically, the report anticipates rural areas seeing the largest percentage of workforce retirements within the next six years.
The report also characterizes the pipeline to replace those retiring practitioners as “insignificant.” And it notes that those who continue to practice in rural areas have the highest levels of dissatisfaction with their situations.
The problems aren’t limited to the state’s rural areas. The report notes that Pennsylvania as a whole has lost a “significant portion” of its dental care workforce since 2015, with those workers citing retirement, physical demands, burnout and a desire to change careers as the biggest reasons for their departure from the profession.
Rural areas and Medicaid provider networks saw the most significant attrition, according to the report.
