Practice characteristics of graduates of postdoctoral general dentistry programs

A mail questionnaire was sent to 900 dentists who completed a Postdoctoral General Dentistry (PGD) program in 1985 and 900 dentists who graduated from dental school in 1985 but did not participate in a PGD program. The response rate was 57 percent. Three-quarters of the PGD graduates trained in civilian programs with the remainder being equally divided between military and Veterans Administration (VA) programs. Graduates of military programs continued to be employed by the military five years after graduation in contrast to the VA where less than 2 percent of graduates were employed after five years. The percent of dentists who are specialists or are enrolled in specialty programs five years after graduation was approximately 13 percent and the rates were similar for PGD and non-PGD dentists. The patterns of care in private practice tended to be similar for both groups; however, in institutions GPR graduates provided more treatment for special care patients and patients who were economically disadvantaged. GPR graduates also were more involved in teaching and in hospital activities.