Mertz, Joshua and Grumbach's study of the oral health workforce involved an extensive literature and legislative review, as well as interviews with 20 key ..........

The literature review exposed the main theoretical concepts behind workforce planning and was used to assess current DHPSA policy in the ......... of the policy's legislative history.

The study provides a synthesis of the alternative personnel planning methodologies (supply-based, demand-based and needs-based), and examines data availability to ......... these methods.

The practical application of these methods is found primarily in the DHPSA and National Health Service Corps (NHSC) programs, the primary governmental efforts to ......... in oral health personnel planning.

The study details the legislative history and institutional development of the current DHPSA criteria and compares the performance of the policy against its expressed goal to identify areas of ......... need.

The legislative directive for monitoring and addressing oral health workforce issues has evolved over the past 60 years from focusing on defining 'manpower shortages' to an emphasis on measuring ..........

However, the programs developed in ......... to legislation have not evolved to reflect this change.

While a variety of ......... methodologies for measuring shortages exist, there are little data currently available upon which to base a new method.

Dental health personnel planning is a process to determine appropriate numbers, types and distribution of providers needed to achieve certain health goals and is rooted with the social ......... to use limited resources appropriately.

This study suggests the need for a revision of oral health care workforce monitoring and planning methods and a ......... of assessment efforts and programmatic responses.