A study on the dental manpower distribution in Shanghai China

Objectives: A study of dental manpower distribution was made in Shanghai China in order to analyze the needs and demands for dental services in Shanghai in 2006, to forecast the developmental trends of dental demand in the future and to provide basis for regional programs of dental manpower in the urban areas of China. Methods:An analysis was made of 2880 subjects taken from all the age groups in Shanghai by stratified and cluster random sampling and of 864 medical institutions of stomatology in Shanghai by mass examination. Then the amount of dental manpower need and demand was computed and forecasted by means of the health care need and demand and proportional analogy methods. Results: The total amounts needed come respectively to 5417 dentists. The total amounts demanded come respectively to 2040 dentists. It is forecasted that the figures will be 5665 in the year of 2020. The prevalence of oral disease was 90.18%,but only 37.66% of subjects visited dentist in a year. The ratio of dentists to the population was 1:8180. Conclusions: A substantial discrepancy is found between oral disease presence and demand for dental service.The unbalance between demand for and supply of dental manpower was mainly due to negative awareness of people , the irrationalness of demand levels ,problems from service provider and the irrationalness of dental manpower levels.The discrepancy between the demand for and supply of dental manpower is caused chiefly by the relative shortage of dental manpower. It is thus imperative at the present stage to readjust the stock of dental manpower and orient augmentations towards programs with greater demands for dental services.