Who are the dentists that employ dental hygienists?

Dental hygienists can increase dentists' productivity, yet national data indicate that a third of dentists do not employ these personnel. Information on characteristics of dentists who employ hygienists, as well as the reasons for not employing hygienists is needed.

A 2003 survey of California dentists in private practice and logistic regression was used to assess factors that were independently associated with hygienist employment. These factors included dentists' personal, practice, patient, population, productivity, and patient care characteristics. Characteristics of dentists not employing hygienist and reasons for not employing hygienists are also described.

Dentists who work full-time, employ more front office personnel, have more operatories, longer appointments, more income from private payers, and more elderly patients exhibited a higher likelihood of employing hygienists than dentists with the alternative characteristics. Foreign graduates and those with a lower percentage of white patients in their practice were less likely to employ hygienists.

Differences between dentists who do and do not employ hygienists reflected factors such as practice income and patient demand as reasons for this decision. Dentists' practice preferences appeared also to be important.

Employing hygienists increases capacity for providing care, yet not all dentists can or choose to do so. Understanding the characteristics of dentists who employ hygienists informs policy decisions to maintain or increase the capacity of the dental workforce.