title: High-acuity GIS mapping of private practice dental services in New Zealand: does service match need?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  New Zealand is a country with a relatively small population (4 million people) distributed unevenly over a relatively large land area. Adult oral health services in New Zealand are almost all delivered through a market-driven, private practice model and are funded directly by patient payments. Little attention has been given to the distribution of these services. This study reports the findings of a high-acuity examination of the distribution of private dental practices in New Zealand, using modern geographic information system (GIS) tools.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1,045 private dental practices in New Zealand were geocoded. These dental practices overlaid 1,909 area units.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The highest practice: adult population ratios found in this study reflected the areas with the highest population densities of Maori and Pacific Islander people.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Oral health has a substantial impact on health-related quality of life and the utilisation of dental care services can contribute to its improvement. As such, it is expected that access to care should be focused on the population groups with the highest degree of need. However, in a market-driven, mostly private practice model, such as that in New Zealand, available care is concentrated largely in areas of high socioeconomic status and in populations with lower levels of oral disease.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Rural and Remote Oral Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia. ekruger@crroh.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Estie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kruger
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Whyman
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tennant
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002391:Catchment Area, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution; D003815:Dentists / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand; D011156:Population Density; D011331:Private Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011365:Professional Practice Location / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012923:Social Class; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data