Geographic Distribution of Dentists and Physicians in Comparison with Dental Hygienists and Nurses in Japan

Abstract

The uneven regional distribution of healthcare workers is an important issue in the healthcare system and has been controversial worldwide. Even though policies that are intended to resolve the shortage of healthcare workers are established, the recruitment of most healthcare workers tend to be concentrated in urban areas, and the shortage of medical workers in rural areas remains unresolved. It is also important for medical and healthcare professionals from different disciplines to work as a team to provide medical care of interprofessional collaboration and integrated community for patients. Previous-ly, we reported on the regional distribution of dentists and physicians, university dental schools, medical schools, and postgraduate residents. In this study, we compared the number of dental hygienists and that of physicians and nurses to the current numbers of dentists by region and analyzed the examination numbers from 1958 to 2018 for dentists and physicians. The ratios of physicians and nurses per 100,000 population were relatively high in western Japan, particularly in the Kinki, Chugoku/Shikoku, and Kyushu/Okinawa regions. The ratio of dental hygienists per 100,000 population was also high in western Japan; however, there was no significant difference in the distribution of dentists. Although there was a significant correlation between the ratios of physicians and nurses at the prefectural level, no such correlation was observed for the ratios of dentists and dental hygienists. Our analyses revealed that, while the increase in the number of dentists during the previous decade（from 2008 to 2018）was gradual, the number of physicians increased at a more rapid rate. The ratio of dentists per 100,000 population in each prefecture was more uniform; however, the regional bias in the ratio of physicians remains unresolved. In conclusion, the results of our present study suggest that the uneven regional distribution of dentists in comparison with physicians in Japan has reduced recently and that the rate of increase in the number of dentists has also slowed down. Our study also found that the correlation between the regional distribution of dentists and dental hygienists was lower than that of the regional distribution of physicians and nurses.