Ala. Code § 16-47-81
Any incorporated or unincorporated municipality or locality in the state having a population of less than 100,000 desiring additional dentists and wishing to be designated as a locality needing additional dentists may apply to the Board of Dental Scholarship and Loan Awards to be placed on a list of localities in need of additional dentists, which shall be maintained by the board. The application may be made either by the municipal governing body or by a petition signed by at least one twentieth of the qualified electors of the municipality or locality. If the Board of Dental Scholarship and Loan Awards determines that the locality is in need of dentists, it shall place the locality on the list of localities in need of dentists from which recipients of scholarships may upon graduation select an area in which to practice. In compiling and maintaining the list, the board may place any locality thereon which, in its opinion, needs additional dentists. A locality on the list shall qualify as a place where participants in the Alabama Dental Service Program may work to repay loans awarded by the program .
Ala. Code § 16-47-81 (1975)