Practice Patterns and Satisfaction with Dental Career

Objectives:  Increased numbers of females entering dentistry has changed the demographics of the profession.  This change has the potential to affect practice patterns and the perceived satisfaction with a career in dentistry.  Purpose:  The purpose of this study was to examine the effect various practice patterns had on the level of satisfaction with dentistry as a career and to determine if any gender-based differences existed.  Methods:  A total of 1594 surveys were sent to dentists who graduated from Creighton University between 1985 and 2005 and 485 were returned (30.4%).  Respondents answered questions regarding practice patterns and rated their satisfaction with the following eight practice experiences:  compensation, autonomy, prestige, selecting and hiring staff, interacting with patients, third party payment, professional liability, and continuing education opportunities.  Results:  Chi square goodness of fit (c²) demonstrated a significant difference between males and females who received and responded to the survey (c² = 10.67, p < 0.01) with a higher percentage of females responding.  Interacting with patients received the highest ratings for satisfaction and third party payment experiences received the lowest.  Spearman's Rho (0.95, p < 0.02) indicates that females and males ranked satisfaction with these eight items closely.  Several practice variables were regressed against the standardized scores for satisfaction with the eight experiences using step-wise multiple regression.  The ability to refer complex procedures to others and current practice income were shown to have a modest impact on satisfaction (R² = 0.15, p = 0.02).  Debt load, having pre-school children, and the expense of setting up the current practice did not exert a significant effect (p > 0.05).    Conclusion:  There were no gender-based differences associated with practice satisfaction, however, the ability to refer and current practice income did influence career satisfaction.