Public and private dental services in NSW: a geographic information system analysis of access to care for 7 million Australians.

AIM: To investigate the distribution of public and private dental practices in NSW in relation to population distribution and socioeconomic status.

METHODS: Dental practices (public and private) were mapped and overlayed with Census data on Collection District population and Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA).

RESULTS: Overall, there was an uneven geographic distribution of public and private dental practices across NSW. When the geographic distribution was compared to population socioeconomics it was found that in rural NSW, 12% of the most disadvantaged residents lived further than 50km from a public dental practice, compared to 0% of the least disadvantaged. In Sydney, 9% of the three most disadvantaged groups lived greater than 7.5km from a public dental practice, compared to 21% of the three least disadvantaged groups.

CONCLUSION: The findings of this study can contribute to informing decisions to determine future areas for focus of dental resource development (infrastructure and workforce) and identifying subgroups in the population (who are geographically isolated from accessing care) where public health initiatives focused on amelioration of disease consequences should be a focus.