Why is it so hard to find a dentist in the bush?

Why is it so hard for the more than 1 in 4 Australians who live outside of capital and major cities to access dental care? And how much is that a factor that contributes to the higher burden of disease we see in regional and rural communities?In 2023, 74.3% of the population lived in major cities across Australia, and dentists disproportionately work in these areas. That means for one quarter of the population, access to dental care - both treatment and importantly prevention - is compromised.In this episode of the Dental As Anything podcast we explore some of the factors that contribute to this maldistribution and look at some of the solutions that have been tried to address this.