Utah tops lists of states with most dentists per capita

Utah is the U.S. state with the most dentists per capita, according to new data from personal finance website WalletHub. Utah had three times more dentists per capita than the last-ranked state, Louisiana.

WalletHub ranked overall healthcare for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia based on cost, accessibility, and outcome. The report included data on dentists per capita and adults with a recent dental visit. The website published its 2019 analysis on August 5.

Utah had the most dentists per capita in 2019, followed by the District of Columbia and Oregon. Hawaii and California, which topped the list in 2018, fell out of the top five rankings for 2019.

In addition, adults in Connecticut had more dental visits in the past 12 months than those in any other U.S. state. The District of Columbia and Rhode Island also performed well in this metric, while Utah and Oregon did not rank in the top five states.

Louisiana performed poorly on both of WalletHub's dental metrics. The state had the fewest dentists per capita and most adults without a recent dental visit.

Top-ranked Utah has three times more dentists per capita than Louisiana, while twice as many adults in Connecticut visited the dentist than those in Louisiana. This state also ranked at the bottom for these metrics in Wallethub's 2018 analysis.

For overall healthcare, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island topped WalletHub's 2019 rankings, while Mississippi, North Carolina, and Alaska ranked lowest. Massachusetts also performed highly in 2018.

To compile the rankings, WalletHub researchers used data from various sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more information, the full report is available on the WalletHub website.