title: An assessment of capitation in the General Dental Service contract 2. Patterns of treatment provided to regularly attending patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the patterns of treatment of general dental practitioners working under fee-for-service in 1987/88 with those working under capitation in 1992/93.
  
  
  METHODS
  73 randomly selected general dental practitioners working under capitation in three contrasting areas in England retrospectively recorded the treatment provided during 1992/93 to a random selection of their regularly attending 6-12- and 14-15-year-old patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean numbers of examinations per year reduced in the three areas from 1.7-1.8 in 1987/88 to 1.2-1.4 in 1992/93. Mean numbers of visits per patient dropped from 2.5-2.9 to 1.8-2.2. Mean numbers of fillings in permanent teeth reduced from 0.15-1.04 to 0.09-0.52 and in deciduous teeth from 0.28-0.53 to 0.24-0.31. Mean percentages of children per dentist having extractions fell from 9.3-28.1% to 4.7-16.2% while the radiographs reduced from 14.0-9.0% to 6.0-10.6%. Mean percentages of children per dentist receiving oral hygiene instruction rose from 18-31% in 1987/88 to 26-33% in 1992/93. Dietary advice increased from 3-18% to 11-20% and fissure sealants from 3-6% to 3-12%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In 1992/93, dentists working under capitation were carrying out fewer examinations, fillings and extractions and were taking fewer radiographs for their regularly attending child and adolescent patients than dentists working under fee-for-service in 1987/88. These patients also attended less frequently for treatment but received marginally more preventive care and advice.
authors.affiliation: University Dental Hospital of Manchester.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Mellor
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Blinkhorn
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Hassall
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Holloway
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Worthington
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002204:Capitation Fee; D002648:Child; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004032:Diet; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005250:Fees, Dental; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006267:Health Education, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013222:State Medicine / Q000191:economics*; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous
chemical_list: D010895:Pit and Fissure Sealants