Geographic redistribution of practice location of graduate dentists: a six-year retrospective analysis (2004-2009).

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to analyse the geographic distribution of practice locations of graduate dentists from the University of Western Australia (UWA) over a period of six years.

METHODS

Using data from open access sources, all practice locations of the UWA's dental graduates from 2004 to 2009 were located. All practice locations were measured at the postcode level and the distribution of graduates was analysed across variables such as SEIFA (a socio-economic index of disadvantage) and ARIA (an index of accessibility and remoteness).

RESULTS

Of the 228 UWA graduates, an almost equal proportion of males (49.1%) and females (50.9%) graduated over the six-year period. Of all the local graduates, 83% continued to practice in Western Australia, with 78% of the practice locations alone in ARIA 1 (highly accessible areas) and 22% of the graduates distributed among the remaining ARIA regions. Fifty-one per cent of graduates practised in the 30% most affluent suburbs and only 11.5% practised in the most socio-economically disadvantaged 30% suburbs. In SEIFA decile 10 (least disadvantaged areas), the highest numbers of practising dental graduates were also from the earliest graduates, with numbers steadily declining over the year of graduation from 2004 to 2009 (i.e. the most recent graduates).

CONCLUSIONS

An apparent association exists between year of graduation and practice location, with more experienced dentists working in urban and higher socio-economic areas.