A community health survey in New York City finds dental care lagging far behind medical care in the ability to reach the low-income segment of the population. Unlike medical services, which reach all income groups in about equal proportions, the utilization of dental services is highly related to socioeconomic status. Dental care is also found to be lowest among Negroes and Puerto Ricans, regardless of socioeconomic status, with the frequency of dental care decreasing in direct proportion to an increase in the degree of parochialism or social isolation of the individual. Thus, it would appear that the same forces that lead to social deprivation in general also increase the likelihood of dental deprivation. The need to study the public's utilization of dental services is underscored by recent statistics on the state of dental health and the cost of dental care in the United States. Despite the fact that the Commission on the Survey of Dentistry in the United States concluded that nearly everyone suffers from some form of dental disease,1 a national survey disclosed that only about one-third of the population sees a dentist at least once during the year.2 According to the United States National Health Survey, during a one-year period (1958-1959), 60 per cent of the population reported no visits at all to a dentist. Furthermore, dental visits were unevenly distributed, with one-tenth of the population accounting for about two-thirds of all dental visits.3 These statistics on the underutilization of dental services are bolstered by data on private expenditures for dental care. In 1962, per capita spending for dentists' services was only $11.91, and this repre