Imbalance in the geographical distribution of practicing dentists in postgraduate dental training institutions in Taiwan

Background/purpose: Postgraduate year training program for dentists (PGYD) in Taiwan started since 2010. This study tried to assess the geographical distribution of practicing dentists in postgraduate dental training institutions in Taiwan. Materials and methods: This study utilized the secondary data analysis to measure and compare the numbers of practicing dentists in each type of dental training institution and the numbers of overall practicing dentists among different cities and counties in Taiwan. Results: Our results found that the practicing dentists in each type of dental training institution showed a significantly greater imbalance in geographical distribution than the overall practicing dentists. It meant that the practicing dentists in postgraduate dental training institutions were more concentrated in northern part of Taiwan than in other parts of Taiwan, compared to the number of overall practicing dentists in different cities or counties in Taiwan. However, the disparities in the number of practicing dentists in dental training institutions could be compensated by cross-regional collaborating institutions under the joint training group system. Conclusion: Because continuation of the current PGYD system may accelerate the imbalance in geographical distribution of practicing dentists in dental training institutions in Taiwan. To prevent this, further studies on yearly changes in the geographical distribution of dentists in postgraduate dental training institutions by city or county should be taken to monitor whether we should further modify the currently used PGYD system toward a better one to solve the problem of imbalance in the geographical distribution of dentists in postgraduate dental training institutions in Taiwan.