title: Dental service provision by oral health therapists, dental hygienists and dental therapists in Australia: implications for workforce modelling.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dental service provision rates are necessary for workforce planning. This study estimates patient and service rates for oral health therapists (OHTs), dental hygienists (DHs) and dental therapists (DTs). To identify important variables for workforce modelling, variations in rates by practice characteristics were assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional self-complete mailed questionnaire collected demographic and employment characteristics, and clinical activity on a self-selected typical day of practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Private and public dental practices in Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Members of the two professional associations representing DHs, DTs and OHTs.
  
  
  METHODS
  For each practitioner type, means and adjusted rate ratios of patients per hour, services per visit and preventive services per visit were estimated. Comparisons by practice characteristics were assessed by negative binomial regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Response rate was 60.6% (n = 1,083), 90.9% were employed of which 86.3% were working in clinical practice and completed the service log. Mean services per patient visit provided by OHTs, DHs and DTs were 3.7, 3.5 and 3.3 and mean preventive services per patient were 2.1, 2.1 and 1.8 respectively. For all three groups, adjusting for explanatory variables, the rate of preventive services per patient varied significantly by practice type (general or specialist) and by the proportion of child patients treated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Services rates varied by age distribution of patients and type of practice. If these factors were anticipated to vary over-time, then workforce planning models should consider accounting for the potential impact on capacity to supply services by these dental workforce groups.
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Teusner
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amarasena
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Satur
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chrisopoulos
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Brennan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D003727:Dental Auxiliaries; D003729:Dental Care; D003756:Dental Hygienists; D003777:Dental Prophylaxis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006285:Health Planning; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010361:Patients / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011313:Preventive Dentistry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011365:Professional Practice Location; D057566:Self Report; D013997:Time Factors; D000078329:Workforce