Workforce and Contents of Home Dental Care in Japanese Insurance System

Yoshiaki Nomura; Ayako Okada; Erika Kakuta; Ryoko Otsuka; Hideaki Saito; Hiroshi Maekawa; Hideki Daikoku; Nobuhiro Hanada; Tamotsu Sato

doi:10.1155/2020/7316796

Workforce and Contents of Home Dental Care in Japanese Insurance System

Int J Dent. 2020 Jul 26:2020:7316796. doi: 10.1155/2020/7316796. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Yoshiaki Nomura¹, Ayako Okada², Erika Kakuta³, Ryoko Otsuka¹, Hideaki Saito⁴, Hiroshi Maekawa⁴, Hideki Daikoku⁴, Nobuhiro Hanada¹, Tamotsu Sato⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Translational Research, Tsurumi University School of Dental Medicine, 2-1-3 Tsurumi Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-8501, Japan.
² Department of Oral Microbiology, Tsurumi University School of Dental Medicine, 2-1-3 Tsurumi Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-8501, Japan.
³ Department of Operative Dentistry, Tsurumi University School of Dental Medicine, 2-1-3 Tsurumi Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-8501, Japan.
⁴ Iwate Dental Association, 2-5-25 Morioka-eki-Nishi-dori, Morioka 020-0045, Japan.

Abstract

Background: In Japan's super-aging society, it is required to establish a home dental service provision system. It is necessary to analyze the current state of visiting dentistry.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-administered postal mail questionnaire distributed to all members of the Iwate Dental Association. We analyzed the implementation status of dental care at home/nursing facilities, the number of dental clinic staff, and the contents of dental home care. Correspondence analysis, item response theory, and zero-inflated model were used for the analysis.

Results: Of the 354 dental clinics, 187 (52.8%) performed visiting dental care and 195 (55.1%) implemented dental care in a nursing home. Visit dentistry was mainly performed by part-time workers. Denture treatment and oral care were common treatments for dental home care.

Conclusion: More than half of the dental clinics did not offer visiting dentistry. In order to fully provide dental visiting services, infrastructure development is necessary. Specifically, human resources are most important, even if they are part-time workers.