Workforce analysis report for 2018/19
The Dental Council collects workforce data from all oral health practitioners during our annual practising renewal process. The data is analysed, and workforce reports are published on our website. The report is published every two years.
The latest workforce analysis report for 2018 and 2019 has been published today (31 March 2021). The report includes analysis of the overall oral health workforce with detailed analysis for each of the professions:
- Dentists and dental specialists
- Oral health therapists
- Dental therapists
- Dental hygienists and orthodontic auxiliaries
- Dental technicians and clinical dental technicians.
The most significant change for the period is reported in the dental hygiene and dental therapy workforces where numbers decreased markedly after the Council established a new oral health therapy profession in 2017.
This report is the first produced using data provided by practitioners at they time they complete their online APC applications. The online collection of information has resulted in increased response rates.
The revised data structures and reporting changes introduced with our new online system provide some new benchmarks for comparison in future years. These relate mostly to prescribed qualifications, ethnicity, and some aspects of employment, type of work and hours worked.
As the workforce data is based on information from practitioners for their previous annual practising cycle – October to September for dentists and dental specialists, and April to March for others – there will be some differences with the financial year data provided in our annual reports.
You can read the full workforce analysis report on our website.