Practice activity trends among oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia

All registered oral and maxillofacial surgeons in Australia were surveyed in 1990 and 2000 using mailed self-complete questionnaires.Data were available from 79 surgeons from 1990 (response rate = 73.8%) and 116 surgeons from 2000 (response rate = 65.1%). The rate of provision of services per visit changed over time with increased rates observed overall (from 1.43 ± 0.05 services per visit in 1990 to 1.66 ± 0.06 services per visit in 2000), reflecting increases in pathology and reconstructive surgery. No change over time was observed in the provision of services per year (4,521 ± 286 services per year in 1990 and 4,503 ± 367 services per year in 2000). Time devoted to work showed no significant change over time (1,682 ± 75 hours per year in 1990 and 1,681 ± 94 hours per year in 2000), while the number of visits per week declined (70 ± 4 visits per week in 1990 to 58 ± 4 visits per week in 2000).The apparent stability in the volume of services provided per year reflected a counterbalancing of increased services provided per visit and a decrease in the number of visits supplied.In Australia the majority of dentists work in private general practice [1]. Relatively few are specialists (10.8%), of which 16.8% are oral and maxillofacial surgeons accounting for 1.9% of all practising dentists. The major trends in oral health in Australia over recent decades indicate improved oral health among the population. For example, there has been a dramatic decline in the percentage of edentulous adults [2,3], and caries experience among children has declined since the 1970s [4], although in the later half of the 1990s improvements in child oral health had ceased [5]. Service trends in private general practice have reflected the trends towards improved oral health with a shift towards higher provision of services such as diagnostic, preventive and endodontic consistent with the retention and maintenance of a natural dentition [6]. Practice activity patterns among private general prac