Investigation On Oral Health Resources In Guangxi

Objectives:1.To understand the current situation of dental institutions and dental manpower through the investigation and analysis of the basic information of dental institutions as well as the professional titles,educational degrees,and distribution of dental manpower in Guangxi.2.To explore oral health resources how to fit the growing oral health needs,and provide evidence for the government in rational planning,allocation,and effective use of oral health resources.Methods:The study was performed in Nanning city,Guangxi,China in 2016.The basic conditions of the registered dental institutions in Guangxi and the information of the dental manpower including their numbers,professional titles,educational degrees,and distribution before 31,Dec 2015 were collected by using questionnaire.After questionnaire forms return,all of forms were checked in order to make sure that every blank was completed,and that all variables had been entered correctly.Any unclear or missing data were sorted out.Data was entered double and logically checked by Epi-software.The data was analyzed by using SPSS 22.0 software.Results:1.The status of dental institutions in GuangxiThe total number of 2,237 dental institutions were registered in Guangxi of which 635 were state institutions(28.39%),and 1,602 were private institutions(71.61%).There were 7 dental hospitals(0.31%),188 dental clinic departments in general hospital(8.40%),11 dental clinic departments in other hospitals(0.49%),71 dental clinic departments in community health service centers(3.17%),216 dental clinic departments in community hospitals(9.66%),and 1711 dental clinics(76.49%).In addition,32 dental clinic departments were in the maternal and child health hospitals(1.43%)and 1 was in the others(0.04%).2.The situation of dental professionals in GuangxiThe total number of dental professionals including dentists,dental nurses,and dental technicians was 6,125 with 3,121 registered dentists,1,806 registered dental nurses and 498 dental technicians.3.The fairness of the distribution of oral health resources in GuangxiThe ratio of dentists to dental nurses to dental technicians was 1:0.47:0.13 while the ratio of dentists to population was 1:12552.There was a positive correlation between the density of dentists and the economic level(r = 0.687,P<0.01).However,no significant correlation had been found between the density of dentists and the population level(r = 0.002,P>0.01).The result showed that the fairness of the distribution of oral health resources in Guangxi has gradually decreased from 2009 to 2016 based on the Lorenz curve graph and the Gini coefficient of fairness.4.The situation of professional titles and educational degrees of dental professionals in six cities selected from GuangxiTotal 543 dental institutions in the 6 regions(Liuzhou,Qinzhou,Baise,Hechi and Laibin)were randomly selected from the 14 cities in Guangxi.Total 543 dental institutions were asked to complete the questionnaires.497 of them had finished the questionnaire.The response rate was 96.4%.A total of 1,962 dental professionals consisted of 1,390 dentists,515 dental nurses,and 57 dental technicians.Related to professional titles,the senior,intermediate,junior,and non-professional titles in dentists was 63(4.53%),247(17.77%),821(59.06%),and 259(18.63%)respectively.The level of professional title in 2016 was higher compared to that in 2009(Z=-4.895,P<0.05).The number of dentists with Master or Ph D degree were 49(3.53%),dentists with Bachelor's degree were 465(33.45%)and the others were 876(63.02%).The educational level of dentists in 2016 was higher than that of 2009(Z=-9.286,P<0.05).More dentists,particularly general dentists(71.62%)were needed in half of dental instituons(44.67%)which had participated in this study.Conclusion:The status of oral health resources in Guangxi had been improved from 2009 but still at a low level.Oral health resources was more concentrated in certain area with better economic level.Insufficient number of dental manpower,unreasonable ratio of dentists to nurses,relatively low professional titles and educational degrees of dentists,all of which indicating that oral health resources in Guangxi still need to be improved in the future.