More than 850,000 New Mexicans live in areas designated by the federal government as dental health professional shortage areas—defined as one dentist for 5,000 or more people. Sizable portions of counties in the state fall into this category; 32 of the 33 counties are designated shortage areas, including all of: Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Quay, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, and Valencia.