Children's dental treatment in general and pedodontic practices.

Descriptions of dentist and patient characteristics and treatment services provided by general practitioners and pediatric dentists in North Carolina are compared. Although pediatric dentists treated a younger patient population, the nature of the treatment provided was similar to that of general practitioners, who accounted for more than an estimated 85% of all child treatment visits. The general practitioners who treated the most children were younger, and had busier practices with more auxiliary support and insured patients than dentists who treated fewer or no children. Over the past several years, concern has been growing among pediatric dentists about the effects on their practices and specialty of the decline in the incidence of dental caries and the increase in the number of pediatric dentists and general practitioners. The decline in caries has been well documented, 1 and the relative and absolute increases in manpower also have been shown clearly, z3 The effects on the pedodontic practice and specialty are more speculafive, but have been associated with decreased busyness and increased competition with general practitioners. 4 These conditions may have contributed to unmet personal and professional expectations and "migration" of pediatric dentists to smaller cities. 5 Despite these growing concerns, little current information is available about the nature of dental treatment provided to children by either pediatric dentists or general practitioners. No studies of treatment in general practice have described separately the treatment services delivered to children, although one report does suggest that such treatment forms a relatively small portion of general practice. 6 One recent study of treatment in pedodontic practices is available, 7 and, in addition, orthodontic services and hospital care provided by pediatric dentists have been examined. 8,9 These studies, together with the projection that 24% of children receiving treatment services receive them from pediatric dentists, s represent the extent of recent information in the pedodontic literature concerning the nature of treatment provided to children. Yet, to identify the effects of changes in disease and dental manpower on pedodontic practice, more complete information is needed about both the nature of dental treatment currently provided to children and who provides it. The dental profession in North Carolina has been involved actively in assessing the supply and distribution of dentists, the treatment needs of the popuo lation, and the productivity of dental practices. Because of this active interest, recent data from North Carolina are available that describe quantitatively the treatment provided to children by general practitioners and pediatric dentists. The purpose of this paper is to compare the characteristics of these two groups of providers and the quantitative aspects of their treatment of child patients.