In 2014, roughly 47 million Americans lived in “dental health professional shortage areas,” a geographic area or a population group where there are 5,000 or more individuals per dentist so designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In six states, at least 20 percent of the population lives in shortage areas with little or no access to dentists. Dental care is the greatest unmet health need among children in the United States, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Every year, tens of millions of children, many of them from low-income families, go without seeing a dentist. The dental workforce traditionally has been limited to dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants, all of whom are licensed at the state level. However, Minnesota and Maine have authorized mid-level dental practitioners to expand the reach of the dental workforce.