The emerging profile of dental manpower in Oklahoma. 1: Oklahoma county.

This is the first report of a three part study. Part I focuses upon the dental manpower profile of Oklahoma County between the years 1972-1989 (Part II will emphasize the dental manpower profile of Tulsa County, and Part III, will be inclusive of the dental manpower profile of all other Oklahoma counties). In all phases of the study, data has been stratified into six categories, namely, general practitioners, specialists, full time general practice dental faculty, full time specialist dental faculty, and public health dentists. The demographic data analyzed in Part I, demonstrated an increasing average age of the dentists from 45.33 years of age in 1972 advancing to 48.33 years of age in 1989. The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry is currently the primary resource of the dental manpower pool in Oklahoma County. The data indicated a downward turn in the percentage of dentists choosing to locate in Oklahoma County.