Perceived competition in private dental practice in Finland

A questionnaire study was conducted among 350 private dentists in Finland t o investigate their perception of competition and how this associated with practice characteristics. The questionnaire comprised 46 questions dealing with perceptions of competition, marketing, and collegiality, respondents' personal and practice characteristics, including age, sex, area of main pra ctice location, weekly hours in private practice, functioning in solo or in joint practice, cooperation with other dentists, and whether practicing in more than one location. The majority of these private dental practitioners perceived much competition between themselves. Almost all (96%) of those f eeling much competition today expected it to be more intense after 5 years, compared to 60% of those not perceiving much competition today (P < 0.001) . Private practitioners perceiving much competition also felt it from publi c health centers significantly (P < 0.001) more often (46%) than others (24 %). Logistic regression models revealed that those with a practice in more than one location were over 7 times more likely not to perceive competition . Those practicing outside metropolitan Helsinki area had 3.6 times the odd s of not perceiving competition, and for women overall the odds ratio was 2 .5. Increasing competition in private practice is a widely felt concern, an d it may diminish the willingness of new graduates to attempt penetration o f the market and establish their clinics.