Survey of the Status and Distribution Trend of Dentists in Lorestan Province 2011-2019

Assessing and quantifying the resources of the health sector and how it is distributed among the regions should be done continuously by policy makers and planners of the health system. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the status and trend of inequality in the distribution of dentists in the cities of Lorestan province in the period 2011-2019.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the status and trend of inequality in the distribution of dentists were investigated using Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient. In 2011, the Gini coefficient of distribution of dentists working in the University of Medical Sciences and private sector dentists was also compared.

The results showed that in the public sector, Khorramabad city with 4.52 and Koohdasht city with 1.66 dentists per 100,000 populations, have the highest and lowest numbers, respectively. Khorramabad city has the highest number of dentists per 100,000 people in both public and private sectors. The Gini coefficient in the public sector in the period under review ranged from 0.357 in 2011 to 0.56 in 1398. The Gini coefficient in both private and public sectors is 0.53 and 0.567, respectively.

According to the results of the distribution of dentists in Lorestan province during the years under study has been unfair. Despite the increase in the average number of dentists, inequality in the distribution of dentists has been increasing. Therefore, it is suggested that distribution policies be reformed to reduce inequality and gaps between cities in the future.