Abstract
Objectives: Dental hygienists are an essential human resource in dental service organizations. However, there are several important persisting problems faced by them, that need to be solved. The purpose of this study was to explore the current situation in dental hygiene education institutions, number of active dental hygienists, and employment distribution across South Korea. Methods: The study gathered statistics of dental hygiene educational institutions, the ratio of active dental hygienists and the number of dental hygienists working across South Korea from officially reviewed websites. Results: Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions house the most number of colleges with dental hygiene programs. The Daejeon and Chungnam regions had the most universities with dental hygiene programs. The activity ratio of dental hygienists decreased every year. Dental hygienists’ employment was highly focused in the Seoul and Gyeonggi provinces. Conclusions: The survey data can be used as basic data for future dental hygienist education to cope with the shortage of active dental hygienists and regional imbalances. This could prove useful to consider the employment of dental hygienists appropriately.
Figures & Tables
Table 1. Number of dental hygiene education institutions in 2016 - 2021 Unit:N
