DENTIST SERVICE RATES AND DISTRIBUTION OF PRACTICE STYLES OVER TIME

Studies of dentist service rates have identified clusters of dentists with particular styles of practice, but these practice styles need to be investigated to determine whether patterns of care become establish ed and remain characteristic among dentists. The aims of this study we re to establish dentist practice styles and to assess the distribution of these styles of practice between 1983 and 1988. A total of 202 pri vate general practitioners who provided service rate data in both 1983 and 1988 were used in a cluster analysis to group dentists into pract ice styles. For both 1983 and 1988 three clusters of dentists were obt ained, characterized by service rates as ''High Restorative'', ''Low T otal Rates'', and ''High Diagnostic and Preventive''. However, the dis tribution of cluster membership changed over time. The percentage of d entists in the ''High Restorative'' cluster decreased from 27.9% in 19 83 to 16.6% in 1988, the ''Low Total Rates'' cluster decreased from 60 .7% in 1983 to 49.2% in 1988, while the ''High Diagnostic and Preventi ve'' cluster increased from 11.4% in 1983 to 34.2% in 1988. The distri bution of dentists between these practice styles may be related to age ing of dentists, practice maturation, population demographics, need or demand changes, or involve subtle differences in duster classificatio n over time.