Page 22 - The Dental Workforce in Malaysia

4 | The Dental Workforce in Malaysia

severe periodontitis, following a declining rate of tooth loss (Marcenes et
al., 2013). There are changing patterns of oral diseases for high-income/
western countries with low incidences of dental caries (Arnett and Forde,
2012, Gallagher and Wilson, 2009, Abi Nahed, 2006) which has promoted
the transition from treatment to providing for conserving (Prakash et al.,
2006) and preventive orientated care (Wilson et al., 2013). Therefore, a
lower proportion of children have traditional treatment needs (Gallagher
and Wilson, 2009), and this could be seen in Malaysia, too (Oral Health
Division Malaysia, 2013a). All of these factors might influence the
requirements for students’ enrolment into dental schools (CfWI, 2013,
CfWI, 2012), training and education (Pyle et al., 2006, Haden et al.,
2006), retention of workforce (burden of workload) (Hall et al., 2007,
Kroezen et al., 2015) and the future model of care (Segal et al., 2008).
The declining trend in dental diseases, however, does not diminish
the demand for dental care whether in the UK (Steele et al., 2012) or
Malaysia (Institute for Health System Research, 2013). Specific sections
of society, such as the middle-aged and older people still experience
caries due to a lack of fluoride in water or toothpaste in their earlier years
(Steele et al., 2000). Following global mobility by the population and the
dental professionals (Chen et al., 2004, WHO, 2014), the patient base is
progressively diverse, presenting with much higher disease levels and
a culture of only seeking care in acute need (HEE, 2015, Gallagher and
Wilson, 2009). Moreover, there are inequalities in seeking dental care
where a recent study in Canada showed that higher income individuals
have more access to preventive care (Grignon et al., 2010). Given this,
workforce planning should encompass strategies from the educational
sector and health sector by ensuring the volume of skilled workforce
is sufficient and appropriate to deliver the needed and required dental
treatments, based on the suitable model of care.
The advancement and development of technology has had a close
relationship with medicine and dentistry, as seen in the introduction
of biomaterials, nanotechnology and 3D imaging (Eaton et al., 2008,
Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 2010, Gallagher, 2008).
Innovation and technology seem to alter how the profession and the
public observe and manage their healthcare and services (HEE, 2015).
More people are adopting technologies at a rapid rate (Glick et al., 2012),