Abstract

Background: Oral health care is provided by public dental services and private practices. Access to public dental services is provided through mandatory health insurance while the costs of dental treatment in private practices are covered by private health insurance and out-of-pocket payments. The comprehensive spectrum of dental services includes primary, secondary, and tertiary care. Objective: To evaluate dental health care efficiency in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB&H), with the purpose to show the relevant indicators for oral health. Methods: The number of graduated doctors of dental medicine (DDM) in the period 2012 to 2019. and the number of employed DDM in the public sector in the same period and visits and services in dental care in the public sector during the period of eight years (2012-2019) were the variables in this retrospective study. Official data of the Institute for public health FB&H were used and analyzed in this study. Results: The number of DDM per 100,000 inhabitants for 2012 was 25, and for 2019 it is 28. The data on the number of DDM employed in the private sector is missing, and the number of DDM in the public sector for 2019 is 612. In 2019 the number of reported dental caries (K02) is 970 per 10,000 inhabitants. The number of filled permanent teeth per DDM in 2019 is 341.9, extracted permanent teeth per DDM is 199.5. Conclusion:. The importance of early diagnosis in oral health is crucial. It is necessary to provide the optimal number of DDM and adequate protection of oral health in all cases of health requirements and health needs in the field of dental medicine.

Key words: dental care, oral health, dental caries, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.