Practice activity trends among Australian private general dental practitioners: 1983-84 to 1998-99

Copyright © 2002 F D I World Dental PressAim: To investigate time trends in practice activity. Design: Four cross-sectional surveys across a 15 year period. Setting: Australian private general practice. Participants: A random sample of dentists. Methods: Dentists were surveyed by mailed questionnaire in 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1998 (response rates 71%-75%). Data were weighted to provide representative estimates for the age by sex distribution of private general practitioners in 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1998. Main Outcome Measures: Hours per year worked, patient visits per hour and patient visits per year. Results: The number of patient visits per year declined across the period, related to parallel decreases in the number of patient visits per hour (ANOVA; P