Measurement of effects of a state dental practice act on potential delegation and production in general dental private practice.

Detailed treatment information was obtained on every procedure performed for all patients seen during a two-year period in 14 private dental practices in Kentucky. This information permitted the investigation of the effect of Kentucky's State Dental Practice Act on the amount of production that could have been legally delegated in the 14 practices. The development of a new measure called the Standard Production Minute (SPM) allowed for the examination of the relations between delegation and production by measuring the two variables in the same time-based units. Results of the study indicated: In 14 private dental practices in Kentucky, 58.7 percent of all production was legally delegable under the State Dental Practice Act. The three areas of operative, hygiene/prevention, and exam/diagnostic data accounted for 74.8 percent of overall production and 67 percent of the production in these areas was legally delegable to auxiliaries in Kentucky. Within individual areas of dentistry, the greatest potential delegation rates were found in these three areas. Given the procedure-mix for the 14 practices, 31 percent of all potential delegation was restricted to hygienists and 18 percent of all production was delegable only to the hygienist under the Kentucky State Dental Practice Act. If the delegation of placing and finishing restorations was restricted by the Kentucky State Dental Practice Act, the percentage of production that could be delegated in the operative area would have decreased from 53.1 percent to 20 percent. However, the percent of production that could be delegated across all areas would have decreased from 58.7 percent to 46 percent.