USE OF DENTAL HYGIENISTS AND RETURNS TO SCALE IN CHILD DENTAL-CARE INNORWAY

The purpose of this study was to investigate, in the provision of dent al care for children, technically and economically efficient combinati ons of dentists and dental hygienists and to study returns to scale by analyzing production functions. Data from 137 dental health clinics w ere analyzed. Output was registered as the number of 3-18-yr-old child ren to whom the clinic delivered complete dental care. Resource input was registered as hours spent by dentists, dental hygienists and denta l assistants to deliver care to the children. The average clinic that employed dental hygienists used one hygienist hour per three dentist h ours for child dental care. It would save dentist time, but not costs, to extend the use of hygienists. Increased use of dental hygienists m ight be economically efficient if the work distribution between the pe rsonnel groups were changed, for example, by delegating more examinati ons and preventive care to hygienists. There were technical opportunit ies for further substitution of dental hygienists for dentists both by introducing dental hygienists in the clinics that only used dentists in child dental care and by extending use of hygienists in clinics tha t already employed hygienists. This study found no productivity gain f rom centralizing treatment of children in large dental clinics.