Washington’s Rural Oral Health Workforce


  • Abstract

    In Washington state, approximately 20% of the population (1.7 million people) lives in a rural county. Access to oral health care in rural areas, however, is limited. Workforce and financial barriers, as well as disparities in oral health care access persist by rural and non-rural county. A lower proportion of people in rural Washington counties reported having visited the dentist in the past year (Figure 1), and 17% fewer adults in rural areas had dental insurance to pay for oral health services, compared to adults in non-rural areas (Figure 2). The differences statewide were statistically significant (p<0.05). The Washington Oral Health Workforce Tracking Program (WOHW) previously published a brief that highlighted these and other access-related findings: Dentist Distribution and Population Need.


  • Authors:

    Guenther GA, Pollack SW, Stubbs BA, Frogner BK, Skillman SM

  • Journal/Publisher:

    Center for Health Workforce Studies, University of Washington

  • Edition:

    Aug 2025.

  • Funder:

    Delta Dental of Washington and the Washington State Legislature

  • Link to Article

    Access the article here: Center for Health Workforce Studies, University of Washington

  • Citation:

    Guenther GA, Pollack SW, Stubbs BA, Frogner BK, Skillman SM. Washington’s Rural Oral Health Workforce. Center for Health Workforce Studies, University of Washington. Aug 2025

  • Related Studies:

    Washington Oral Health Workforce Tracking Program