Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Diş Hekimliği Fakültesi Dergisi

Yazarlar: Hazal ÖZER, Onur GEZGİN

Konular:Diş Hekimliği

Anahtar Kelimeler:Geographic Information Systems,Health Care Distribution,Oral Health

Özet: Purpose: Geographic information systems (GIS) analyze the relationship between environment and individuals, and provide detailed information to understand spatial distribution of patients affected by specific diseases. The purpose of this study is to analyze and visualize distribution of patients applying to public institutions providing oral and dental health care as well as dental treatments through GIS. Materials and Methods: Information on the treatment of all patients who applied to public oral and dental health care institutions in Konya between 2012 and 2016 and the number of dentists in these hospitals were obtained from the Provincial Office of Public Hospitals Administration of Turkey. The treatment data was classified for all departments except for the orthodontics. Changes in the data in years were proportionally compared and visualized through GIS. Results: When the treatments are analyzed, an increase in the number of treatments is observed in years for all departments but periodontology. As for the geographical distribution of treatment data, more treatments were applied in the central areas with a high population density. Conclusions: It is considered that the volume of treatment is substantially affected by factors such as the distribution of patients and proximity and accessibility to the institution. The larger share of restorative and preventive treatments within the total over the years can be interpreted as a parameter reflecting the tendency to prefer treatment rather than extraction. However, further detailed data is needed to identify the reasons for the decrease in periodontal treatment rates. GIS is a useful tool that can be used to identify needs in this regard.

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