China's Dental Workforce Allocation Equity (2012-2022)

To provide a scientific basis for the rational allocation of dental human resources by analyzing the status quo and fairness of human resource allocation in China from 2012 to 2022. The quantity and quality of dentists in China were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and the fairness of dental workforce allocation was analyzed using the Lorenz curve, the Gini coefficient, and the Theil index. The number of dentists in China has increased significantly, with women accounting for a larger proportion, the rejuvenation of the dentist team is obvious, and the level of education still needs to be improved. The Gini coefficient showed that the equity of dental workforce was economy > population > geography, in which the geographic dimension was greater than 0.4, exceeding the warning line. The Gini coefficients of each region configured by population, geography, and economy all showed that west > east > center. The Theil index suggests that inequality in demographic and economic dimensions mainly comes from within regions, and inequality in geographic dimension mainly comes from between regions. The equity of dental worforce allocation by demographic and economic dimensions has significantly improved, and the equity of allocation by geographic dimensions needs to be improved. The fairness adjustment of dental workforce allocation presents a situation where local optimization and overall imbalance coexist.