Health Human Resources Planning for Dentistry in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Background:

This study aims to provide a human resource planning tool to inform government bodies in Saudi Arabia to help them reallocate community resources towards better dental health.

Objectives:

To conduct an inventory of government oral health care resources in Jeddah city and its suburb for human and non human resources; to assess the oral health status and treatment needs for Saudi citizens following the WHO criteria for oral health surveys; and to explore the potential differences between oral health supply and treatment needs.

Methods:

We conducted a population based, sample survey to collect data on dental status and service requirements through self-administered questionnaires and clinical examinations. We also conducted a census of dentists and assessed their productivity by means of self-administered questionnaires. The time to meet the population's treatment needs was estimated using the clinically assessed treatment needs multiplied by the time units contained in the 2001 ODA fee guide. Dentists' available time for one year was calculated from dentists' a questionnaire and the activity assessment form. The times for the treatment needs and the supply of services were compared to identify the potential difference in treatment hours.

Results:

Some results from the 2000 participants aged 6, 12, 16, 24-29 and 35-44 are shown in Table 1 (Mean DMFT=4.92; Mean D=2.66). 175 government and university dentists (71% response rate) completed the census instruments. The difference between the treatment requirements and supply of services showed 4,088,621 hours (11,894 dentist equivalents) of current unmet treatment needs.

Conclusion:

The general directory for health affairs of Jeddah will need to develop very different approaches to oral health promotion and/ or care provision to meet the needs of the population.