A QUESTIONNAIRE INSTRUMENT TO ASSESS CLINICAL DECISION-MAKING IN PROSTHODONTICS AMONG GENERAL-PRACTITIONERS

There are great variations in dentists' choice of treatment. The aim o f this study was to evaluate a Patient Paper Case (PPC) technique to i nvestigate such variation, adjusted for prosthodontics. The questionna ire was sent to all 131 general practitioners (GP) in the Public Denta l Service in Orebro County and to all 100 GPs in private practice in S karaborg County, Sweden, with 81% responding. There were three PPC que stions, concerning 1) crown therapy or amalgam/composite filling, 2) f ixed or removable partial denture, 3) fu;ed partial denture or single implant restoration. Respondents were asked to assess 13 or 14 items c oncerning the patient, dental conditions, and own skills. There was gr eat variation in responses. In factor analysis four factors were found to capture between 54% and 60% of the variance of the items. They wer e interpreted as a time factor, a patient subjective factor, a clinica l factor, and finally, for the PPC 1 and 2, a general health factor. T he Swedish insurance regulations of single implant therapy, mandatory caries/filling-free, and vital adjacent teeth were reflected in the fa ctor solution of PPC 3. It is concluded that the PPC method is feasibl e and useful in studies of clinical decision-making in prosthodontics.