Data Report: 2014 Indiana Dentist Workforce

Abstract

The dentist workforce is the primary provider of oral health care to Indiana residents. In 2014, there were 3,982 dentists who held an active license in Indiana. These dentists were not surveyed during their re-licensure period, as has been done in the past, but were contacted by the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA) via email in the fall of 2014 and asked to complete a brief survey. Despite follow-up reminders from IPLA and the Indiana Dentist Association (IDA) survey response was low (13.4%). The previous survey, which was administered during dentists’ 2012 re-licensure period, had a response rate of 80.7 percent. Of the 3,982 actively licensed dentists who were offered the survey, there were 532 respondents. Only 424 dentists were included in this analysis after filtering respondents to include only those who were actively licensed, practicing in Indiana, and currently practicing as dentists. Because of the small proportion of the actively licensed dentist workforce in Indiana that is represented in this analysis, it is unclear whether this sample is representative of the overall workforce. Comparing 2014 survey data with 2012 survey data indicated similar patterns in dental specialty and hours worked per week. However, slightly more rural dentists responded to the 2014 survey than the 2012 survey. Comparisons between responders and non-responders to the 2014 survey indicate that those who completed the survey were older than those who did not. The collection of high quality health workforce data is dependent upon reaching a large proportion of the health workforce. The low response rate to this survey suggests that this methodology is not optimal for collecting data on Indiana’s health professional workforces. Survey response fell by 67.3 percent compared to the 2012 dentist re-licensure survey. Embedding the survey instrument in the health professional re-licensure process has consistently yielded high (>80%) response rates across all health professions and should be considered as the primary method of survey administration for future data collection.