Demographics of Kenyan dentists under the predevolved system of government; a dental workforce study

Objective: The main aim of this study was to analyse the dental workforce in Kenya prior to the decentralization of health workforce management to county governments in 2013.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of Kenyan dentists who were practising as at 2013. Demographic data was obtained from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists' Board and the Ministry of Health annual retention registers. These data were integrated and analysed in Microsoft Excel 2016. All tests for significance were set at 95% confidence level (p ≤0.05).Results: Most of the dentists studied were male (55.6%) and more than half (54.5%) were below the age of 40 years (M=39.8, SD=11.9). A majority (79.3%) were general practitioners and approximately half (50.8%) were involved in private practice. Whereas, 76% had received local undergraduate training, many specialists (51.2%) held foreign degrees.Conclusion: There is urgent need for Kenya to develop strategies that will increase and retain the number of dentists and specialists. It remains to be seen whether the creation of a decentralised system of government will address existing shortages as well as the age, gender and speciality imbalances affecting the dental workforce.Keywords: Kenya, dentists, dental specialists, demographics, pre-devolution