Future dental human resource needs--a qualitative approach

As part of the National Oral Health Survey, dentists in private practice were asked to give their views and opinions on the future planning of human resource needs for South Africa. The data, which were qualitative in nature, yielded 2600 responses. After computing a frequency distribution of these responses it was possible to classify these data into five major categories. These were a) "too many dentists/fewer should be trained" b) "more dentists for developing areas" c) "more auxiliaries in general" d) "greater need for preventive and health education services" and e) "high cost of running and maintaining private dental practices". The predominant view was that fewer dentists and more auxiliaries should be trained, while the need for preventive and health education services received considerably less support.