Assessing the economic return of specializing in orthodontics or oral and maxillofacial surgery.
BACKGROUND
The authors determined the economic returns from an educational investment in the specialties of orthodontics and oral an maxillofacial surgery. They also addressed problems found in previous studies.


METHODS
The marginal return for specializing in orthodontics or oral and maxillofacial surgery was determined using net present value and internal rate of return, or IRR, with the income of the general dentist serving as the common opportunity cost. Extreme scenario, threshold and one-way sensitivity analyses were used to account for variation in the data.


RESULTS
The median group of orthodontists broke even 5.9 years after specialty training and had a working lifetime net return of $271,536 above that of general dentists; the IRR for them was 10.36 percent. The median group of oral and maxillofacial surgeons broke even 2.3 years after training and had a working lifetime net return of $587,563 above that of general dentists; the IRR for them was 25.30 percent.


CONCLUSIONS
Under the most likely conditions, the authors found a positive economic return to dentists in both specialties from their additional dental training.


CONCLUSIONS
The positive financial returns brought by specialization indicate that the demand for additional dental education should continue within an environment of increased educational investment costs.
Cordes
D W
DW
Department of Behavioral Science, University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, Farmington, USA. straight_teeth@hotmail.com
Doherty
N
N
Lopez
R
R
D004499:Education, Dental, Graduate / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D009970:Orthodontics / Q000191:economics* / Q000193:education; D013515:Surgery, Oral / Q000191:economics* / Q000193:education; D014481:United States