The Rural Blog

A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the Institute for Rural Journalism, based at the University of Kentucky. Links may expire, require subscription or go behind pay walls. Please send news and knowledge you think would be useful to benjy.hamm@uky.edu.

The Rural Blog

PAGES

Adding dental care to regular checkups is helping people with little access to dentists get needed care and referrals

Dental care for low-income rural residents often out of reach

Dental deserts widen the gap in care for rural Americans; a look at Florida highlights reasons for the continued disparity

CDC: Three of seven rural adults went without dental care before pandemic, especially men, non-whites and the poor

Local governments, citizens solve problems as D.C. dithers

Evangelical doctor group begs churches to stop holding services

Study shows disparities that hurt rural children's health

States increasingly allowing dental therapists to practice, which can help bring more dental care to rural areas

Study: Rural dentists show awareness of opioid epidemic in their prescribing, and are in good positions to fight it

Rural America has too few dentists, partly because it has too few patients or Medicaid programs that can pay

Kentucky's (and nation's?) oldest working dentist dies at 97

Dentistry program trains students to serve in rural areas

Rich-poor divide in oral health forces low-income folks to choose extraction over costly repairs

Dental therapists in Minnesota leading to increased care in rural and underserved areas

Soft drinks are by far the No. 1 item purchased by households with food stamps, USDA finds

Nutritionists want to ban use of food stamps for junk food

Five-part series takes a look at Central Appalachia

Rural Iowa had 13% fewer dental practices in 2013 than in 1997; average age of dentists increasing

Rural N.D. lacks dentists; ADA's chief economist says some rural residents don't see a need for care

Dental therapists are the key to improving oral health in underserved rural areas, advocates say