Biomaterial Database

State Dental practice acts: implications for competition. 1981

D A Conrad, and M L Emerson

This article analyzes the effects of state dental practice acts on competition in the market for dental services. Three types of practice act provisions are examined: (1) restraints on advertising and soliciting of patients; (2) limits on scope of practice and number of dental hygienists per dentist; and (3) restrictions on the form of organization and ownership of dental practices. The empirical results suggest that limits on number of offices per dentist and absence of reciprocal licensing arrangements are associated with higher fees and net incomes among dentists. Restraints on number of hygienists per dentist are positively associated with dental fees, but not with net income. Restrictions on commercial advertising are related to the higher net income, but not fees. There is no significant intercorrelation among the various practice act provisions. The analysis concludes with a discussion policy implications for competition in dentistry and a suggestion that practice act changes are both a cause and an effect of the general metamorphosis observed in the dental market place. The potential indirect effects of national health insurance and altered reimbursement policy are discussed.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007879	Legislation, Dental	Laws and regulations pertaining to the field of dentistry, proposed for enactment or recently enacted by a legislative body.	Dental Legislation
D010067	Ownership	The legal relation between an entity (individual, group, corporation, or-profit, secular, government) and an object. The object may be corporeal, such as equipment, or completely a creature of law, such as a patent; it may be movable, such as an animal, or immovable, such as a building.	Property Rights,Property Right,Rights, Property
D011215	Practice Management, Dental	The organization and operation of the business aspects of a dental practice.	Dental Practice Management Services,Dental Practice Management,Management, Dental Practice,Practice Management Services, Dental
D003132	Commerce	The interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale, between different countries or between populations within the same country. It includes trade (the buying, selling, or exchanging of commodities, whether wholesale or retail) and business (the purchase and sale of goods to make a profit). (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed, p411, p2005 & p283)	Business,Commercial Sector,Prices,Sales,Vendors,Businesses,Commerces,Commercial Sectors,Price,Sale,Sector, Commercial,Sectors, Commercial,Vendor
D003727	Dental Auxiliaries	Personnel whose work is prescribed and supervised by the dentist and who provide dental related care.	Auxiliaries, Dental,Auxiliary, Dental,Dental Auxiliary
D005250	Fees, Dental	Amounts charged to the patient as payer for dental services.	Dental Fee,Dental Fees,Fee, Dental
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000329	Advertising	Works about the act or practice of calling public attention to a product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements in newspapers, magazines, on radio, or on television. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)	Advertising as Topic,Advertisement as Topic,Telemarketing,Advertisings
D014481	United States	A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.