Key Points
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This paper reports a survey of dental hygienist numbers in Canada, Japan, the USA and Western Europe.
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The results indicate that although the combined populations of Canada, Japan and the USA and the total number of dentists working in these three countries are broadly similar to those in the 18 member states of the European Economic Area (EEA), there are over 15 times as many dental hygienists in the three countries than in the EEA.
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Fewer than 10,000 dental hygienists worked in EEA member states other than the UK.
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The potential for the UK to recruit large numbers of hygienists from the EEA is therefore extremely poor.
Abstract
Objective The aims of this study were to establish how many dental hygienists were licensed to practice in Canada, Japan, USA and the 18 member states of the European Economic Area (EEA) and to compare these with the populations and numbers of dentists practising in the countries concerned.
Method Data for the overall populations, numbers of 'active' dentists, of dental hygienists and of employed dental hygienists in the member states of the EEA in 1998 were taken from the responses to a Council of European Chief Dental Officers survey carried out in 2000/2001. Data for these variables for Canada, Japan and the USA in 1998 were accessed from published reports. The ratios of population: active dentist; population: dental hygienist; and active dentist: dental hygienist were calculated and compared.
Results The overall populations and total number of active dentists in the 18 EEA member states and Canada plus Japan plus the USA were broadly similar in 1998 (EEA overall population 381 million with 245,169 active dentists: Canada/Japan/USA overall population 421 million with 253,825 active dentists). However, there were only 13,295 dental hygienists in the EEA as opposed to a total of 215,435 in Canada, Japan and the USA. In terms of population:dental hygienist and active dentist: dental hygienist ratios the UK was found to have proportionally far fewer dental hygienists than Canada, Japan, USA or the four Nordic members of the EEA.
Conclusion The survey revealed that relative to overall populations and numbers of dentists, there are far fewer dental hygienists in the EEA than in Canada, Japan and the USA and that scope for the UK to import dental hygienists from other EEA member states is probably very limited.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the members of the Council of European Chief Dental Officers for gathering and reporting the data for EEA member states quoted in this paper and Mr David Gort for his help in preparing the figure.
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Eaton, K., Newman, H. & Widström, E. A survey of dental hygienist numbers in Canada, the European Economic area, Japan and the United States of America in 1998. Br Dent J 195, 595–598 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4810736
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.4810736
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