Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Dec;25(8):1208-1216.
doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2017.09.005. Epub 2017 Sep 14.

The characteristics and distribution of dentist workforce in Saudi Arabia: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Abdulaziz A AlBaker  1 , Yazed Sulaiman H Al-Ruthia  2 , Mohammed AlShehri  2 , Samar Alshuwairikh  2
Affiliations

The characteristics and distribution of dentist workforce in Saudi Arabia: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Abdulaziz A AlBaker et al. Saudi Pharm J. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

Background: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has shown steady growth in the dental workforce over the last 20 years. Although the number of dental colleges has significantly increased in the last decade, there is not any study so far that described the status of the licensed dentist workforce in the kingdom. The present study aimed to explore the demographic distribution and professional characteristics of licensed dentist workforce in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study using the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) database to identify the number of licensed dentists in Saudi Arabia as well as their professional and demographic characteristics as of December 2016. The data was categorized based on gender, nationality, dental specialty, health sector, geographic location, and professional rank.

Results: The number of licensed dentists working in the kingdom as of December 2016 was 16887 dentists, and the vast majority of them are professionally registered as general dentists (70.27%). The percentage of general dentists among the professionally registered female dentists is significantly higher than their male counterparts (79.71% vs. 64.80%; P < 0.001). Only 22.08% of the dentists working in the kingdom are Saudi. Most of the dentist workforce in the kingdom are male (61.06%). The mean age of the Saudi dentists is slightly but significantly younger than non-Saudi dentists (37.7 vs. 40.7 years; P < 0.001). Over 80% of the Saudi dentists are working in the regions of Riyadh, Makkah, and Eastern province. About 66% of the Saudi dentists are working in the public health sector in comparison to only 20.46% of the non-Saudi dentists (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Most of the dental care in Saudi Arabia is provided by non-Saudi dentists in both private and public health sectors. With the rising unemployment rate among Saudi dentists, the governmental bodies that are responsible of dental labor market regulations such as the ministries of health, economy and planning, and labor should come up with a policy to gradually but carefully replace the non-Saudi dentists in both public and private sectors with Saudi dentists.

Keywords: Dental workforce; Dentists; Dentists-to-population ratio; Oral health; Saudi Arabia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The professional registration of dentists across gender (%).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The percentages of dental specialists and general dentists among Saudi, Non-Saudi, and Saudi male and female dentisits.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The percentages of non-Saudi dentists in public and private health sectors across the Saudi regions.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The percentages of dental specialists and general dentists among non-Saudi dentists in the public health sector in each region.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The distribution of licensed dentists from different specialties across the Saudi regions for both Saudi and non-Saudi dentists.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ahmed A.A., Fateha B., Benjamin S. Demand and supply of doctors and dentists in Bahrain, 1998–2005. East Mediterr. Health J. 2000;6(1):6–12. - PubMed
    1. Al-Jarallah K.F., Moussa M.A., Al-Duwairi Y., Zaatar E., Al-Khanfar K.F. The dentist workforce in Kuwait to the year 2020. Community Dent. Health. 2010;27(3):178–183. - PubMed
    1. American Dental Association The oral-systemic connection: an update for the practicing dentist. A special supplement to the Journal of the American Dental Association. J. Am. Dent. Assoc. 2006;137:1S–40S. - PubMed
    1. Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health Dental specialists in Australia. Aust. Dent. J. 2010;55(1):96–100. - PubMed
    1. Brunton P.A., Burke T., Sharif M.O., Muirhead E.K., Creanor S., Wilson N.H. Contemporary dental practice in the UK: demographic details and practising arrangements in 2008. Br. Dent. J. 2012;212(1):11–15. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources