The general practice residency: its effect on specialization in dentistry.

The federal government has assumed an active role in the effort to increase the proportion of dentists choosing general dental practice as a career instead of specialty practice and has encouraged development and expansion of additional general practice residency training programs for this purpose. This paper reports on career decisions of graduates of one dental school for the past ten years. The findings suggest that general practice residencies may in fact lead to an increasing degree of specialization rather than enhancing long range career interests in general dentistry.