More than 80% of the dentists in Hong Kong are in private practice and third party payment schemes are uncommon. Thus, most dentists have to work according to the rules of a free market and have to respond to the demands of the population. Using official data, it was found that the geographic distribution of private dentists was highly uneven. In 1989, the dentist to population ratio in the commercial districts was below 1:2,500 while in the new towns the ratio was larger than 1:20,000. There has been an improvement in the availability of dentists in the under-served areas during the past 10 years although there are still a considerable number of dentists practising in the areas on both sides of the Victoria Harbour.