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Oral Health Workforce Research Center
from HWRCs' Annual Report
by UAlbany
Eff orts to expand access to oral health services must consider the availability of a workforce equipped to meet the population’s need for both preventive and restorative oral health services. A key goal of OHWRC is to conduct research that can inform workforce strategies that are best able to reduce oral health disparities in the US.
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Oral Health Workforce Research Center
Research to Improve the Oral Health of the Nation’s Population
Access to oral health care has become a growing concern over the past decade. Despite eff orts to improve the oral health of the nation’s population, disparities in access, utilization, and outcomes persist.
An available, competent, and well distributed workforce is required to assure access to needed oral health services. The key goals of the Oral Health Workforce Research Center (OHWRC) are to provide timely, accurate data and conduct policy relevant research to assist in workforce planning for oral health services. Specifi c areas of focus include health services integration, mobile and portable dentistry, teledentistry, diversity in dentistry, consumer perspectives on access to care, dental therapy, dental hygiene scopes of practice, and dental safety net providers’ strategies to expand access to services for underserved populations, among others.
The OHWRC is based at the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York. The OHWRC was formed as a partnership between CHWS and the Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco.
Visit the OHWRC website to access research reports, briefs, and a wealth of informational resources on the oral health workforce.
