I REFER to the letter “Do we have enough dentists?” (StarEdu, Sunday Star, July 17) by Professor Dr Rahimah Abdul Kadir, who’s of the opinion that Malaysia nonetheless wants to provide extra dentists.
I urge to vary.
In 2011, there have been 4,253 dentists practising in Malaysia. In 2019, there have been 10,801. This enhance has induced a drop within the dentist-population ratio from 1:6,810 in 2011 to 1:5,000 at the moment. Such an incredible enhance within the variety of dentists (154%) in simply eight years raises the query: “Are we producing too many dentists?”
Whereas Dr Rahimah outlined her opinion from a tutorial’s viewpoint, I want to current mine from the bottom degree.
Our leaders proudly hail the drop in dentist-population ratio as an achievement for the nation. They consider that a rise within the variety of dentists will result in:
> Much less ready time for sufferers to obtain therapy;
> Discount in price of dental therapy because of enhance in competitors; and
> Correction of the uneven distribution and “mislocation” of dental clinics.
Sadly, that is solely half true.
Every of us has our personal choice for dentists. If I consider dentist A is sweet and has nice abilities, I’ll look forward to him to deal with me. It’s illogical {that a} rational particular person would merely select a dentist simply because one doesn’t have to attend!
It’s also costly to arrange and preserve a dental clinic. With a view to have a sustainable apply, the clinic should be positioned in an space with a fairly big inhabitants. Thus, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have the biggest variety of dental clinics in Malaysia.
At present, a dental clinic could price between RM100,000 and RM200,000 to arrange. No matter what number of sufferers a dentist treats per day, the gear will depreciate with time. With fewer sufferers to deal with because of elevated competitors, the dentist will ultimately have to extend his price to cowl the price of depreciation. This may make dental therapy much less accessible, particularly to folks within the B40 or lower-income group.
The explanations behind the dentist’s selection for establishing his apply are principally private, therefore rising the variety of dentists is not going to appropriate the uneven distribution of dental clinics.
In her letter, Dr Rahimah additionally talked about the excessive prevalence of caries and periodontal illness among the many Malaysian inhabitants. I cannot dispute this reality. Nonetheless, now we have to confess that consciousness of excellent dental well being is low in our society. Whereas there’s lots of dental work that must be achieved, rising the variety of dentists is not going to resolve this drawback if folks don’t wish to search therapy.
By the way in which, non-specialist (normal) dentists don’t deal with jaw, facial bone fracture or oral most cancers. On the most, they will decide up the case early and refer the affected person to a dental specialist for additional administration.
What Malaysia lacks proper now are dental specialists, comparable to oral maxillofacial surgeons, periodontists, orthodontists, endodontists, paedodontists and prosthodontists. We should always discover methods to provide extra of those specialists as a substitute of flooding the market with normal dentists.
It’s inconceivable to make use of a single and easy ratio, such because the dentist-population ratio, to conclude that Malaysia has too many or too few dentists. Maybe a greater strategy can be to measure the take-home pay of a dentist who has labored for one to 5 years in non-public apply after finishing his/her obligatory authorities service.
If the pay is under the median for M40 earnings, then the dentist, who’s knowledgeable, shouldn’t be on par with different professionals comparable to attorneys, accountants or engineers.
Moreover, if there’s a decline within the take-home pay of younger dentists, it will clearly point out the oversupply of dentists available in the market, which works on the precept of demand and provide.
Final however not least, Glad fiftieth Birthday to the Dental School of Universiti Malaya, my alma mater.
DR NG CS
Johor Baru
