December 2008

Objective To examine whether the presence of a dental school acts as an influence on the number of dentists practicing in the surrounding area. Research Design The project used Geographical Information Systems (GIS) mapping techniques, along with data on the location of NHS dentists, to plot dentist to population rates at selected distances from dental undergraduate teaching hospitals in England. A GIS map of dentist to population rates was then constructed for each of the dental schools and the rate patterns examined and compared. Results With the exception of Liverpool, the maps demonstrated higher than average rates up to two miles, and up to five miles for Manchester, from the location of the dental school before falling and then varying around the England and Wales average. No clear pattern emerged between dental schools, and no two schools produced a similar ‘footprint’. Conclusions Within the constraints of the current study, it appears that for graduates from the seven dental undergraduate teaching hospitals in England outside London, who work as general dental practitioners with NHS contracts, factors other than the distance of a practice from their place of training appear to have a greater influence on their choice of geographical location where they work, than its distance from a dental hospital. Key words: Decision making, dental, dentists, distribution, GIS, location, schools; workforce