Lithuanian dentists have problems
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- Published: Thursday, 08 January 2015 07:48
- Written by News Editor
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A recent survey of Lithuanian dentists found that one third of them work long hours and lack patients. Many dentists practice in multiple locations and plan to retire after the official retirement age. Some dentists and dental specialists plan to emigrate. The perceived shortcomings within the dental care system and workforce planning of dentists need to be addressed, the researchers say.
The research, ‘Current employment characteristics and career intentions of Lithuanian dentists’ by Vilija Janulyte etal was published in Human Resources for Health. It explored the current employment profile and future career intentions of Lithuanian general dentists and specialists.
The majority of all dentists work full or part-time in the private dental sector, more than one third of them owns a private practice or rents a dental chair. A minority of dentists works in the public dental sector. According to the survey, 26.6% of general dentists and 39.2% of dental specialists works overtime (>40 hours per week; P <0.001) and practice in multiple clinics (1.4 +/- 0.6 and 2.0 +/- 1.2, respectively; P <0.001). One third of general dentists (31.3%) and dental specialists (31.4%) stated to have a low number of patients (P >0.05). The majority (68.9% of general dentists and 65.9% of dental specialists) plans to work after the retirement age (P >0.05). Emigration as an option for their professional career is being considered by 10.8% of general dentists and 8.3% of dental specialists (P >0.05). Working either full or part-time in private practices (OR = 4.3) and younger age (<=35 years; OR = 2.2) are the two strongest predictors for a perceived insufficient number of patients.
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