Association between local spatial accessibility of dental care services and dental care quality

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to evaluate the allocation of dental resources and explore access to dental care in Taiwan. In addition, we tried to understand the spatiotemporal characteristics of dental care quality and analyze the relationship between dental care quality and areas with deficiencies in dental resources. METHODS: The study used a two-step floating catchment area to calculate the dental resources accessibility and explore the spatiotemporal distributions of dental care quality. The association between dental care quality and spatial accessibility was analyzed using a spatial error model. RESULTS: Most areas with deficient dental resources and lower dental care quality were remote townships, agricultural towns, or aging towns with spatial clustering. The quality of children's preventive dental care had increased over time. Most highly urbanized areas had higher dental care quality. The quality of some dental care types such as children's preventive care and full-mouth calculous removal was associated with higher accessibility. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of both dental care accessibility and quality can assist in allocation of dental care resources. Adequate dental resources may elevate dental care quality. Suggestions include policies to balance dental resources and routinely monitor improvement in areas with deficient dental care. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-021-01943-z.