The effects of gender and race on practice pattern preferences of dental students.

Type of practice arrangement is an important decision for student dentists, and one that has implications for the future delivery of dental care. This study examined the effects of two student-related characteristics, gender and race, on dental student preferences for three practice arrangements: solo ownership, group ownership, and employee practice. Dental students read content-validated practice descriptions and rated each practice in terms of long-range practice preferences. The descriptions differed according to three practice-related factors: (a) decision-making autonomy, (b) income opportunity, and (c) financial risk. The independent variables were student gender and student race. The dependent variable was student rating of a dental practice. Results indicated that student preferences for different practice arrangements differ by gender and by race. Males rated the solo owner arrangement more favorably than did females and Whites rated the solo owner arrangement more favorably than did African Americans. Also, females demonstrated a stronger preference for group practice than did males, while African Americans rated the employee practice arrangement more favorably than did Whites.

Influence of practice and personal characteristics on dental job satisfaction.

Job satisfaction has been called a barometer of the dental profession. The Dentist Satisfaction Survey (DSS), an instrument that measures both specific facets related and overall job satisfaction of dentists, was administered to general dentists in Kentucky (N = 987). Independent variables included eleven job facets, plus practice characteristics and personal characteristics including student loan debt. Results of the stepwise multiple regression showed that 60 percent of the variance of the dependent variable, overall job satisfaction, was attributable to six job facets: respect, perception of income, delivery of care, stress, patient relations, and professional time. The most significant predictors of dental job satisfaction involved the intrinsic rewards of being a dentist and the delivery of dental health services. Less satisfying aspects of dentistry included business operations, including practice management and financial planning. Despite concern among educators about the potential influence of student loan debt, there was no significant correlation between student loan debt and overall job satisfaction. Findings from this study have implications for student recruitment, dental school curriculum design, and dental workforce planning.

An investigation of dental student practice preferences.

This study explored characteristics hypothesized to influence dental student long-range practice preferences. Dental students (N = 264) for this study were selected at random from all dental students in one state who rated practice arrangements they most prefer to be in five years after graduation. The rating instrument was composed of two items measured on 5-point Likert-type scales. The independent variables were student gender, year of dental study, and practice arrangement. The research design was a 2 x 4 x 3 completely randomized, fixed-factor, factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA). The ANOVA model explained 48 percent of the variance in student practice arrangement ratings. Both males and females rated solo ownership as the most favorable practice arrangement. Males rated the solo owner arrangement more favorably than did females, while females had a stronger preference for the employee practice arrangement than did males. Study results have implications for dental educators in their efforts to structure curricula to meet diverse student needs, to assess personnel needs and enhance the accuracy of projections, and to evaluate the effect of practice preferences on the health care system.

Artificial herd immunity to poliomyelitis in a semirural community in South Africa.

The sera of 139 children aged between 8 months and 6 years from the town of Port Alfred in the eastern Cape Province were examined for antibodies to the three types of poliovirus. A protective level of antibody to type 1 virus was found in 73.4% of the sera. The figures for types 2 and 3 were 94.2% and 68.3% respectively. The results indicate good herd immunity to poliomyelitis. No cases of paralysis or isolations of poliovirus had been reported from the area for the 6 years preceding the survey. The high degree of immunity is therefore unlikely to be due to circulating 'wild' virus to any great extent. It must be ascribed mainly to the immunity achieved by the administration of an average of 2.8 doses per child of trivalent live poliovirus vaccine. The low figure of 47.4% for immunity to all three types of virus could be due to enterovirus interference and inhibitory factors. A fourth dose of vaccine was thought to be indicated and is now given as a routine measure. Further investigations on the response to this will be undertaken.

Influence of type of carbohydrate on atherosclerosis in baboons fed semipurified diets plus 0.1% cholesterol.

Five groups of six (three male, three female) baboons (Papio ursinus) were maintained for 17 months on a semipurified diet containing 40% carbohydrate, 25% casein, 13.9% coconut oil, 0.1% cholesterol, 15% cellulose, 5% salt mix (USP XIV) and 1% vitamin mix. The carbohydrates fed were: fructose, sucrose, starch, glucose, and lactose. A fifth group was used as control and was fed bread, fruit, and vegetables. Serum, liver, and tissue lipids were analyzed at the end of the feeding period as were cholesterol absorption (as 3H-cholesterol) and synthesis (from 14C-mevalonic acid). Serum cholesterol and beta-lipoprotein levels were elevated in all the test groups compared to final control levels or to starting levels for all the baboons. Average serum cholesterol levels of the test groups were not significantly different. Liver lipids were elevated in all test groups except that fed glucose. Baboons on the test diets absorbed more exogenous cholesterol (3H) but biosynthesis of this sterol was not inhibited. The ratio of biliary primary/secondary bile acids was below normal levels only in the animals fed fructose and sucrose. Cholesteryl ester fatty acid spectra of serum and liver reflected the dietary fat. Fecal weight was 69% higher in lactose fed animals and 31% lower in sucrose fed animals than in the controls. The ratio of endogenous or exogenous neutral/acid steroids was considerably lower in the fructose-fed baboons than in the other animals. On this diet average aortic sudanophilia (percentage of surface) was: fructose, 11.3; sucrose, 10.4; starch, 21.3; glucose, 17.2 lactose, 65.8; and control, 1.4. Gross atheromatous lesions were seen in five of six baboons fed lactose; three of six baboons fed fructose; two of six baboons fed sucrose, and one of six baboons fed starch. In a second experiment three groups of baboons were fed the control diet, the semipurified diet in which the carbohydrate was lactose, and the semipurified diet containing lactose plus 0.1% cholesterol for 8.5 months. Serum lipids were elevated in the two test groups but liver lipids were not significantly different from control levels. Average aortic sudanophilia (percentage of area) was: lactose, 2.2; lactose-cholesterol, 20.8; and control, 0.3%. One of the six baboons in the lactose-cholesterol group had visible atherosclerotic lesions. These experiments represent the first successful attempt to produce severe atherosclerosis in baboons by dietary means alone.