A survey of dental manpower of public hospitals in Shanghai

Objective: To understand the quantity, structure, distribution and the state of dental out-patient service of public hospitals in Shanghai. Method: A mass examination with the interview method using a questionaire was adopted in all public dental hospitals and dental departments of general hospitals in Shanghai in 2007. The content of the survey included the quantity and distribution of public dental hospitals and dental departments of general hospitals in Shanghai, the quantity and background of the dentists, dental nurses and dental technicians of public hospitals in Shanghai and the amount of dental units and patients of out-patient department of the public hospital in Shanghai. Result: There were 364 public dental hospitals and dental departments of general hospitals in Shanghai. There were 2046 dentists, 350 dental nurses and 281 dental technicians. The public dental hospitals and dental departments of general hospitals in Shanghai in all owned 2010 dental units. The proportion of the dentists to the population in Shanghai was 1:8180.69 while the proportion of the dentists to the dental nurses and technicians was 7:2:1. The dental manpower of public hospitals in Shanghai was mainly distributed in the downtown with 41.48% of public dental hospitals and dental departments of general hospitals. 68.23% of the dentists, 79.80% of the dental nurses and 82.21% of the dental technicians concentrated in the downtown. The amount of the patients of the yearly out-patient department of public dental hospitals and dental departments of general hospitals in Shanghai in 2006 was 5.1465 million. The quantity of dental manpower of the public hospitals both per 10 thousands people and per square kilometer in the downtown was significantly higher than in the suburbs.

Conclusions: Although the total quantity of dental manpower of public hospitals in Shanghai is not a small amount. The proportion of the dentists to the population is still lower than that in Europe, the United States and Japan. Especially, dental nurses and dental technicians are relative shortage. The dental manpower was mainly concentrated in the downtown and relative insufficiency in the suburbs.