Millions in the U.S. can't get dental care: Shelly Gehshan Pew Center on the States

Fewer than half of Americans see a dentist each year and millions live in areas where access to dental care is severely limited, a new analysis from the health policy group Institute of Medicine (IOM) finds.

A severe shortage of dentists, especially those serving rural and minority groups, is contributing to the "persistent and systemic" barriers to oral health care, the report noted.

The IOM committee concluded that around 9,600 additional dentists would be needed to meet the needs of underserved populations in the United States.

"We have the lowest ratio of dentists to population that we have had in 100 years," says Shelly Gehshan, who directs the Pew Children's Dental Campaign. "This is a serious problem that leaves 40 to 50 million people out of reach of a dentist at any given moment."