Over the next three years, 25 students in Kentucky will pursue their goal of becoming a dentist through support from a new scholarship initiative at the University of Pikeville’s Tanner College of Dental Medicine.
Each student will receive $10,000 through the Commonwealth Dental Excellence Scholarship which was founded by a $250,000 commitment from UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kentucky.
By reducing financial barriers to dental education for Kentucky residents, the program aims to help aspiring dentists begin their studies and strengthen the dental workforce in underserved rural communities across the Commonwealth.
“The University of Pikeville Tanner College of Dental Medicine is deeply grateful to UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Kentucky for its generous investment in our students and our mission. This partnership will help educate the next generation of dentists while strengthening access to high-quality oral healthcare in the rural and underserved communities of Kentucky,” said Jill E. Keaton, DMD, Dean of the Tanner College of Dental Medicine.
Dental care challenges in Kentucky
Nearly one million of the 4.6 million Kentuckians reside in an area designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) for dental care, according to governmental data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in December 2025.1
This has likely contributed to the state's under-performance in several related health metrics. At 14.6%, Kentucky has the nation’s 7th highest cavity rate for children 17 and under2, while it has the 4th lowest percentage of adults (41.3%) who visited a dentist in the past year.3
Fortunately, access to dental care has increased in most cities in recent decades. But this has not been the case in rural areas. In fact, across the United States, the gap between the average supply of dentists in urban counties (65.8 per 100,000) and rural counties (29.9 per 100,000) widened between 2001 and 2021.4
Empowering more Kentuckians to enter the dentistry field
Permanently improving access to dental care in Kentucky requires a concerted, long-term effort to expand the workforce pipeline. Government estimates suggest that the state needs 219 additional practitioners to remove the dental care shortage area designation across all its counties.1
Through the Commonwealth Dental Excellence Scholarship and an educational offering designed to prepare students to start working in three years, UPIKE’s Tanner College of Dental Medicine is aiming to be a major contributor to closing this gap.
This investment reflects a long-term commitment to addressing dental provider shortages in rural communities, while helping increase access to care and create stable career pathways for dedicated young professionals who want to serve their communities. Together, the scholarship program and the Tanner College of Dental Medicine can help make high-quality dental care a reality for more people across the Commonwealth.
