The status of hospital dentistry in Taiwan in October 2019
Background/purpose: Dental care has been officially incorporated into the hospital accreditation system in Taiwan since 2015. The geographical distribution of dentist manpower still remains in an unbalanced status as shown by the dentist-to-population ratio. This study tried to assess the dental man...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Dental Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1991790220301525 |
| _version_ | 1818643300168499200 |
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| author | Feng-Chou Cheng Julia Yu-Fong Chang Tzu-Chiang Lin Po-Fang Tsai Yung-Ta Chang Chun-Pin Chiang |
| author_facet | Feng-Chou Cheng Julia Yu-Fong Chang Tzu-Chiang Lin Po-Fang Tsai Yung-Ta Chang Chun-Pin Chiang |
| author_sort | Feng-Chou Cheng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background/purpose: Dental care has been officially incorporated into the hospital accreditation system in Taiwan since 2015. The geographical distribution of dentist manpower still remains in an unbalanced status as shown by the dentist-to-population ratio. This study tried to assess the dental manpower issue in terms of the status of hospital dentistry, and hence provided two organizational-level suggestions with their policy implications. Materials and methods: This study utilized the secondary data analysis to evaluate the dental manpower in dental departments of medical centers, regional hospitals, and district hospitals in different regions of Taiwan in October 2019. Results: Our results found that the dental manpower including the numbers of general dentists and dental specialists was highest in medical centers, followed by regional hospitals and district hospitals. Moreover, the dental resources and manpower were mostly concentrated in the northern region of Taiwan, followed by the central and southern regions of Taiwan, the eastern region of Taiwan, and offshore islands. Conclusion: The hospital dentistry in Taiwan develops toward large-scale and specialization. Both hospital general dentists and dental specialists are concentrated in the medical centers, especially the medical centers in the northern region of Taiwan, indicating the problem of oversupply in the northern Taiwan and unbalanced distribution of dentists among the regions in Taiwan. Therefore, the responsibilities of the hospitals in metropolitan areas are to develop the elderly and disabled dentistry and to assist with oral health promotion and oral disease prevention in remote areas to reduce the urban-rural gap in dental resources in Taiwan. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T23:56:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5b1d4b0e7ec54083b8c0347b139385e5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1991-7902 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T23:56:46Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Dental Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-5b1d4b0e7ec54083b8c0347b139385e52022-12-21T22:11:12ZengElsevierJournal of Dental Sciences1991-79022020-12-01154505512The status of hospital dentistry in Taiwan in October 2019Feng-Chou Cheng0Julia Yu-Fong Chang1Tzu-Chiang Lin2Po-Fang Tsai3Yung-Ta Chang4Chun-Pin Chiang5School of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Dentistry, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, TaiwanDepartment of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, TaiwanCenter for the Liberal Arts, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, TaiwanGraduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, TaiwanSchool of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan; Corresponding author. School of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 88, Sec. 4, Ting-Chou Road, Taipei 11677, Taiwan.Department of Dentistry, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Dentistry, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan; Corresponding author. Department of Dentistry, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, No. 707, Section 3, Chung-Yang Road, Hualien 970, Taiwan.Background/purpose: Dental care has been officially incorporated into the hospital accreditation system in Taiwan since 2015. The geographical distribution of dentist manpower still remains in an unbalanced status as shown by the dentist-to-population ratio. This study tried to assess the dental manpower issue in terms of the status of hospital dentistry, and hence provided two organizational-level suggestions with their policy implications. Materials and methods: This study utilized the secondary data analysis to evaluate the dental manpower in dental departments of medical centers, regional hospitals, and district hospitals in different regions of Taiwan in October 2019. Results: Our results found that the dental manpower including the numbers of general dentists and dental specialists was highest in medical centers, followed by regional hospitals and district hospitals. Moreover, the dental resources and manpower were mostly concentrated in the northern region of Taiwan, followed by the central and southern regions of Taiwan, the eastern region of Taiwan, and offshore islands. Conclusion: The hospital dentistry in Taiwan develops toward large-scale and specialization. Both hospital general dentists and dental specialists are concentrated in the medical centers, especially the medical centers in the northern region of Taiwan, indicating the problem of oversupply in the northern Taiwan and unbalanced distribution of dentists among the regions in Taiwan. Therefore, the responsibilities of the hospitals in metropolitan areas are to develop the elderly and disabled dentistry and to assist with oral health promotion and oral disease prevention in remote areas to reduce the urban-rural gap in dental resources in Taiwan.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1991790220301525Dental careDental manpowerHospital dentistryOversupply and unbalanced distribution of dentists |
| spellingShingle | Feng-Chou Cheng Julia Yu-Fong Chang Tzu-Chiang Lin Po-Fang Tsai Yung-Ta Chang Chun-Pin Chiang The status of hospital dentistry in Taiwan in October 2019 Journal of Dental Sciences Dental care Dental manpower Hospital dentistry Oversupply and unbalanced distribution of dentists |
| title | The status of hospital dentistry in Taiwan in October 2019 |
| title_full | The status of hospital dentistry in Taiwan in October 2019 |
| title_fullStr | The status of hospital dentistry in Taiwan in October 2019 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The status of hospital dentistry in Taiwan in October 2019 |
| title_short | The status of hospital dentistry in Taiwan in October 2019 |
| title_sort | status of hospital dentistry in taiwan in october 2019 |
| topic | Dental care Dental manpower Hospital dentistry Oversupply and unbalanced distribution of dentists |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1991790220301525 |
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