Nearly half the population of New Mexico lives in an area with an active dental provider shortage. A CU Anschutz dental student is working to help close that critical healthcare gap in Colorado’s neighbor to the south.
Nisali Piyasena, a class of 2027 Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) candidate at the CU Anschutz School of Dental Medicine and a University of New Mexico (UNM) graduate, hopes to do that by growing her home state’s next generation of dentists through outreach and mentorship efforts to pre-dental students, a goal outlined in her recent Research Day project, which won the DDS and Advanced Standing International Student Program poster competition.
Key points
New Mexico faces a critical shortfall of dentists, with nearly 900,000 state residents living in shortage areas, according to state reports.
A research project from a dental student and New Mexico native identified lack of mentorship, opportunities and resources as critical gaps.
“There is an average of one dentist for every 3,000 or so people in New Mexico,” Piyasena said. “The national average is closer to one for every 1,000 or so. I saw the impacts of that firsthand when I was growing up there and going through the whole pre-dental process. I wanted to increase awareness of this as a possible career pathway for younger students in New Mexico and eventually grow the field inside the state.”
In the following Q&A, Piyasena gives personal and research insights into the causes exacerbating the dentist shortage in New Mexico and what steps could help reverse the current trend and improve oral health.