[Study of the labor market for dentists who recieved Norwegian authorization during 1972-1975. I. Waiting time and alternative employment before the 1st relevant job].

The purpose of the investigation was to monitor changes in the labour market situation for dentists who received authorization to practise dentistry in Norway during the years 1972-1975. Data was collected by postal questionnaire during April/May of the year following authorization, except for the 1972 cohort, which was contacted the second year after authorization. A 92-95 per cent response rate was achieved using one follow-up (Table 1). The percentage of respondents who waited 8 weeks or more to acquire a job in dentistry increased from 15 for those authorized in 1972 to 36 for the 1975 group (Table 3). The proportion of dentists who took paid employment other than dentistry, increased from just over 3 per cent for the 1973 to 14 per cent for the 1975 cohort (Table 4). This development has occured despite a decrease in the number of dentists receiving authorization each year and has resulted in a limited emigration of dentists. It is suggested that the favourable supply of dentists in relation to existing demand for dental services presents an ideal opportunity for attempting to solve dental health problems which have received inadequate attention in the past.