Debt and practice profiles of beginning dental practitioners.
Escalating student debt for dental education has led some to speculate that beginning practitioners may undertake procedures that are beyond their competence in an effort to augment practice income. This hypothesis was tested directLy using a data set containing self-reports of practice profiles across a wide range of procedures and debt for education, practice, and personal purposes. Respondents were 113 individuals who had graduated from a private dental school from 1986 to 1997. Conservative dental practice was measured by comparing frequency of commonly and uncommonly performed procedures in the group as a whole against the profile for each respondent. There was no association between educationaL debt and propensity to engage in unconventional procedures. Older dentists and those who felt more competent at the time of graduation were less conservative. Amount of practice debt was a better predictor of unconventional practice than was educational debt.
Chambers
David W
DW
University of the Pacific School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA. dchambers@uop.edu
Budenz
Alan W
AW
Fredekind
Richard E
RE
Nadershahi
Nader A
NA
D002140:California; D002983:Clinical Competence; D017266:Dental Prosthesis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019094:Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003794:Dental Restoration, Temporary / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003815:Dentists / Q000191:economics*; D003829:Denture, Partial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003778:Dentures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000191:economics; D005376:Financial Management / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007754:Laboratories, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D011215:Practice Management, Dental / Q000191:economics; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012390:Root Canal Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data