The spatial distribution and geographic analysis of endodontic office locations at the national scale

The major purpose of this article was to quantify and describe the spatial distribution of endodontic office locations at the national scale. This study consisted of 2858 US American Association of Endodontists member endodontists as subjects. Three research questions were developed and explored. The location quotient technique, the spatial autocorrelation approach, and the multiple-regression procedure were the major analytical methods. Major results were as follows: the highest concentration (2.09 to 2.62) of endodontic offices per 100,000 US population was located in just two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut; the spatial distribution of endodontic office locations did exhibit significant (p < or = 0.05, two-tailed test) spatial autocorrelation. Therefore, the spatial distribution of endodontic office locations was nonrandom. Individually, the most significant predictor of endodontic office locations was the location of general practice dentists (its beta coefficient was 0.960606, significant at p < or = 0.0001).