Survey of dentists' opinions on issues facing the profession

Dentists in the Seventh District Dental Society of the State of New York were surveyed for their attitudes toward selected health policy issues to determine the extent of attitudinal consensus in the professional community, the bases of significant differences of opinion, and the agreement of the local dentists with official policies of the American Dental Association. Greatest agreement among dentists was found with respect to the issues of licensure and peer review; some significant differences of opinion were found about the existence of manpower problems, expansion of dental schools, recruitment of minorities, expanded-duty auxiliaries, and fee scheduling. Most dentists favored participation in continuing education courses without examination as a requisite for licensure and even more favored peer review by the local dental society. Agreement between opinions of local dentists and official ADA policies was high on all issues except fee posting, for which local opinion was evenly divided. The formation of national policies with regard to fee posting should proceed carefully.