Transformations of the dental industry during the period of independence of Ukraine and their impact on the availability of dental care

The article presents an analysis of the transformations of the dental industry in different periods of development of the health care system from 1991 to 2020 and their impact on the availability of dental care. The materials of the study were regulations, statistics on the infrastructure and human resources of the dental industry in Ukraine. Bibliosemantic, historical, analytical, medical-statistical and biostatistical research methods are used. The article presents an analysis of the number of dental institutions and dentists per capita at different stages of development of the health care system of Ukraine. The transformation of Ukraine's health care system in 2015-2020 has led to a significant reduction in dental clinics and human resources in the Ministry of Health of Ukraine with a significant increase in the number of private clinics and dentists providing dental care. The share of working dentists in the public health relative to the private sector is declining: in 2017, 72% worked in public institutions and 28% – in private institutions; in 2020 – 59.7% and 40.3% respectively. Ukraine has a developed infrastructure and human resources for dental care. The transformation of the health care system leads to a reduction in the number of dental facilities and staff in the system of Ministry of Health, which is not offset by the intensive development of the private sector and reduces the availability of dental care. The introduction of innovative technologies increases the complexity of the work of dentists and, accordingly, requires an increase in the number of dentists. The policy in the field of dental education does not allow to prepare a sufficient number of dentists for the industry and to compensate for migration processes of labor dental potential to European countries.