Specialised oral health care at Finnish hospitals in 2000-2005

In Finland, the municipalities are responsible for arranging and reimbursing health care to their inhabitants. Each municipality has to belong to one of the 21 hospital districts, which are responsible for organizing specialised health care. Since 1980s specialist services in hospitals have been available also in oral health care, mainly in oral and maxillofacial surgery but increasingly also in other fields. However, traditionally most of the specialised dentists are working on the private sector. Objectives: The aim of our study was to analyse the national databases on the resources for and the use of specialised oral health services on a period during which adults' dental care was reformed. Methods: The numbers of employed dentists as well as numbers of in- and outpatient treatments in each of the hospital districts were collected and descriptive statistics was computed. Results: The use of hospital services has increased but still the number of dental specialists working in hospitals is low in comparison with the private sector. The number of outpatient visits at dental policlinics in hospitals was 12.5 per 1000 inhabitants in 2000 while in 2005 it had increased to 16.3 visits. The number of inpatient treatments at hospitals increased from 1.07 per 1000 inhabitants in 2000 to 1.40 in 2005. Regional differences were great; highest number on inpatient treatments being in Lapland, which is a large region with scarce population. The inhabitants per specialised dentist working in hospital ratio improved sligthly from 37 509 in 2000 to 34 514 in 2005. The ratio was lowest in the neighbourhood of dental schools. Conclusions: The recent national dental care reform and changes in dental specialist education are expected to increase the demand for highly specialised dental services at hospitals. More specialists are needed in hospitals to quarantee equal services for all.