Department of Health - Health Manpower Survey

1 The dentists covered in the 2018 Health Manpower Survey on Dentists (HMS-DN) were dentists registered with the Dental Council of Hong Kong on the list* of registered dentists resident in Hong Kong under the Dentists Registration Ordinance (Chapter 156) as at the survey reference date of 31 August 2018, with exclusion of those subsequently found to have passed away on or before the survey reference date.

3 Of the 2 341 dentists covered, 1 344 responded to the HMS-DN, giving an overall response rate of 57.4%. Among the respondents, 1 301 (96.8%) were economically active^†‡(active) whereas 43 (3.2%) reported to be economically inactive^†§ (inactive) in the local dental profession (See Chart).

4 Of the 1 301 active dentists enumerated, 1 288 (99.0%) were practising in the local dental profession, 11 (0.8%) were seeking jobs in the local dental profession during the 30 days before the survey and two (0.2%) were waiting to take up a new job in the local dental profession during the 30 days before the survey.

5 The survey findings presented below were based on the 1 288 responding dentists practising in the local dental profession as at 31 August 2018. The percentages present below may not add up to 100% due to missing responses or rounding.

(i) Nine registered dentists did not indicate their gender. Of the remaining 1 279 active dentists enumerated who were practising in the local dental profession, 830 (64.9%) were male and 449 (35.1%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 185. Apart from 12 dentists who did not indicate age, the median age of the remaining 1 276 active dentists enumerated was 50.0 years.

(ii) Distribution by sector of the main job ^║ of those enumerated showed that 951 (73.8%) active dentists enumerated were working in the private sector, followed by 244 (18.9%) in the Government, 44 (3.4%) in the subvented sector , 34 (2.6%) in the academic sector^¶ and 12 (0.9%) in the Hospital Authority.

(iii) 1 070 (83.1%) spent most of their working time on general dentistry, followed by 183 (14.2%) on specialist practice, 20 (1.6%) on administration / management and nine (0.7%) on teaching / education".

(iv) The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 1 288 active dentists enumerated was 40.0 hours. Among them, 64 (5.0%) dentists were required to undertake on-call duty, with a median of 6.0 hours of on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week.

(ii) 26 (60.5%) dentists reported not practising in the dental profession in Hong Kong and not seeking job in the local dental profession during the 30 days before the survey. The reasons reported for not seeking job included: 14 (53.80%) were retired, four (15.4%) wanted to take rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need, and two (7.7%) were engaged in household duties.

*	As the 2018 Health Manpower Survey aimed at covering all dentists practising in Hong Kong, dentists on the list of registered dentists resident outside Hong Kong were excluded from the survey.
†	In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organization, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong.
‡	“Economically active” dentists comprised all “employed” and “unemployed” dentists. “Employed” dentists referred to those dentists practising in the dental profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while “unemployed dentists” referred to those dentists who (a) were not practising in the local dental profession during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; AND (c) had sought work in the local dental profession during the 30 days before the survey.
§	“Economically inactive” dentists comprised the responding dentists who were not practising in the dental profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, but excluding those who had been on leave during the survey period and those who were economically active but “unemployed”.
║	Main job referred to the jobs in which the dentists had spent most of their working time.
¶	Includes universities and the Prince Philip Dental Hospital.

Statistics