Dental Workforce Report of Indiana University School of Dentistry Graduates and Other Practicing Dentists in Indiana

Abstract

All dentists who renewed their Indiana licenses on - line in 2010 or 2012 were asked to complete a voluntary survey instrument that ha d a 95.4% response rate 1 in 2010 and 80.7% response rate 2 in 2012. The purpose of this study was to describe the dental workforce in Indiana with a focus on comparing graduates from the Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD) to all other practicing ( n on - IUSD ) dentists in Indiana. Of primary interest is how well the graduates of IUSD are meeting the oral health needs of the population of the state, particularly in the rural and underserved areas.

Using data from the Office of Alumni Relations at IUPUI, license numbers of IUSD alumni were matched to the license numbers of individuals in the 2010 or 2012 Indiana Dentist Licensure Survey datasets. Individuals whose license numbers matched with the alumni list were identified as “IUSD” graduates and those that did not match were identified as “non - IUSD” graduates. This report compares responses between 2,203 IUSD and 835 n on - IUSD graduates who renewed their licenses and completed the Indiana Dentist Licensure Surveys in 2010 or 2012, respectively.

Lastly, most of the differences between groups were found to be statistically significant due to the large sample size of IUSD graduates compared to non - IUSD graduates. Thus, for the purposes of this report if the differences between groups were noted to be at least 10 percent they were considered remarkable and reported as such.