Topeka ? Three Kansas nonprofit groups are teaming up to address what they see as the state’s critical shortage of dentists.

The groups making up the Kansas Dental Project worry that dental care is out of reach for many Kansans. They are Kansas Action for Children, the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved and the Kansas Health Consumer Coalition.

One University of Kansas study has found that 15 of the state’s 105 counties have no dentist. In another 82 counties, there were more than 1,500 patients for every dentist, the number a dentist can treat on average.

Also, the groups said, only 25 percent of the state’s nearly 1,400 dentists participate in Medicaid, which covers health care for the poor and disabled.