Doing business in the NHS: exploring dentists' decisions to practise in the public and private sectors

Through discussion of the findings of a national study of general dental pr actitioners this paper explores the beliefs, values and practices of dentis ts, the factors that influence their decisions to practise in the public an d/or private sectors, and their experiences of making the transition toward s increased private practice. In examining particularly their ideological b eliefs, attitudes to business and entrepreneurial behaviour, it considers t he appropriateness in sociological thinking of the division between perspec tives which have perceived professional behaviour as primarily motivated by economic self-interest and occupational control, and those which have cons idered professional behaviour to be characterised by altruistic values and a public-spirited concern for patient welfare.