Seminar - 60 Minutes
Julie Reynolds, DDS, MS
Assistant Professor
University of Iowa College of Dentistry
Susan McKernan, DMD, MS, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Iowa College of Dentistry
Raymond Kuthy, DDS, MPH
Professor
University of Iowa College of Dentistry
The goal of this seminar is to describe approaches to assess multiple dimensions of state dental workforce capacity, including dentists and dental hygienists, illustrated by recent findings from Iowa. The first presentation will demonstrate use of longitudinal dentist data to look at trends in workforce composition over the previous 25 years and identification of "hot spots" for practice locations. The second presenter will describe geographic information systems (GIS) applications to assess regional variation in workforce and methods to overlay this with Medicaid data. The third presenter will discuss opportunities for workforce innovation based on current dental hygienist capacity, examining factors such as under-employment. This seminar will include findings from recent workforce evaluations, including state Medicaid evaluations and dental hygienist survey. These various approaches to workforce assessment, taken together, provide a comprehensive picture of Iowa’s current oral health workforce and opportunities for policy intervention to improve access.