Public health dentistry is a non-clinical specialty of dentistry that focuses on preventing and controlling dental diseases, and promoting community dental health. Public health dentistry treats the community as the patient rather than individuals. Some of the organized efforts include dental health public education and group dental care programs.
A public health dentist gets involved in social oral health polices and dental health educational programs for the public, dental epidemiology (the prevention and control of dental disease in a community population), and applied dental research. A public health dentist also studies the patterns, causes and control of dental diseases among groups of people (dental epidemiology), and focuses on the prevention and control of dental disease in a community population. Typically a public health dentist carries a Master of Science (M.S.) in Dental Public Health.
Doctor density varies by specialty and location. The United States has 601 practicing public health dentists. Broken out by state, public health dentistry doctor density in Alabama is 6, in Alaska is 9, in Arizona is 22, in Arkansas is 6, in California is 71, in Colorado is 18, in Connecticut is 12, in Delaware is 1, in District of Columbia is 6, in Florida is 90, in Georgia is 43, in Hawaii is 4, in Idaho is 1, in Illinois is 33, in Indiana is 7, in Iowa is 7, in Kansas is 6, in Kentucky is 16, in Louisiana is 7, in Maryland is 21, in Massachusetts is 27, in Michigan is 21, in Minnesota is 6, in Missouri is 22, in Montana is 10, in Nebraska is 3, in Nevada is 6, in New Hampshire is 6, in New Jersey is 12, in New Mexico is 13, in New York is 28, in North Carolina is 42, in North Dakota is 3, in Ohio is 16, in Oklahoma is 19, in Oregon is 16, in Pennsylvania is 14, in Rhode Island is 2, in South Carolina is 14, in South Dakota is 7, in Tennessee is 34, in Texas is 41, in Utah is 6, in Virginia is 42, in Washington is 15, in West Virginia is 2, in Wisconsin is 9, and in Wyoming is 3.
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