title: Dental responsibility loadings and the relative value of dental services.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate responsibility loadings for a comprehensive list of dental services, providing a standardized unit of clinical work effort.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dentists (n = 2500) randomly sampled from the Australian Dental Association membership (2011) were randomly assigned to one of 25 panels. Panels were surveyed by questionnaires eliciting responsibility loadings for eight common dental services (core items) and approximately 12 other items unique to that questionnaire. In total, loadings were elicited for 299 items listed in the Australian Dental Schedule 9th Edition. Data were weighted to reflect the age and sex distribution of the workforce. To assess reliability, regression models assessed differences in core item loadings by panel assignment. Estimated loadings were described by reporting the median and mean.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Response rate was 37%. Panel composition did not vary by practitioner characteristics. Core item loadings did not vary by panel assignment. Oral surgery and endodontic service areas had the highest proportion (91%) of services with median loadings ≥1.5, followed by prosthodontics (78%), periodontics (76%), orthodontics (63%), restorative (62%) and diagnostic services (31%). Preventive services had median loadings ≤1.25.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dental responsibility loadings estimated by this study can be applied in the development of relative value scales.
authors.affiliation: Australian Research centre for Population Oral Health, Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: D N
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2350-6026
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Teusner
authors.affiliation: Australian Research centre for Population Oral Health, Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.affiliation: Australian Research centre for Population Oral Health, Adelaide Dental School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Brennan
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003815:Dentists / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005792:General Practice, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009970:Orthodontics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011476:Prosthodontics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015895:Relative Value Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Dentists; dental care; dental health services; dental practice management; relative value scales