Solomon Eric S
Texas A & M Health Science Center, College Station, USA.
Gen Dent. 2007 Nov-Dec;55(6):552-8.
This study investigates the demographic characteristics of general dental practice sites in the United States and develops a model that identifies practice site characteristics commonly associated with general dental practices. Demographic data and general dental practices were organized by zip codes and analyzed using Discriminant Analysis. The demographic characteristics associated with zip codes that contained a general dental practice were determined. The resulting model correctly classified 85.2% of the 30,115 zip code areas, based on the presence or absence of a general dental practice. The variables most closely associated with a zip code containing a general dental practice included population size, age distribution of the population, educational background, and economic status. Demographic characteristics are predictive of sites with or without a general dental practice. Zip codes with large, urban populations that have positive socio-economic characteristics, such as high income and education levels, are the most likely to have a general dental practice. A significant number of zip codes in the U.S. (852) have the demographic characteristics associated with a general dental practice site but do not have a general dentist.
本研究调查了美国普通牙科诊所所在地的人口统计学特征，并开发了一个模型，用以识别与普通牙科诊所通常相关的诊所所在地特征。人口统计数据和普通牙科诊所按邮政编码进行整理，并使用判别分析进行分析。确定了与设有普通牙科诊所的邮政编码相关的人口统计学特征。基于是否存在普通牙科诊所，所得模型对30115个邮政编码区域中的85.2%进行了正确分类。与设有普通牙科诊所的邮政编码最密切相关的变量包括人口规模、人口年龄分布、教育背景和经济状况。人口统计学特征可预测是否设有普通牙科诊所。具有积极社会经济特征（如高收入和高教育水平）的大城市人口所在的邮政编码区域最有可能设有普通牙科诊所。美国有大量邮政编码区域（852个）具有与普通牙科诊所所在地相关的人口统计学特征，但却没有普通牙医。
