Provision of domiciliary care in a UK urban area: results of a survey.

A proportion of the population is unable to attend a dentist for treatment and it is therefore essential that an adequate domiciliary service is available. The availability of such a service was evaluated by means of a postal questionnaire distributed to 180 dentists practising in Manchester. The response rate was 57.8%. The results indicated that domiciliary care was provided by 84.6% of respondents, with the mean number of domiciliary patients treated per month being 2.9. Appointments for domiciliary care were arranged outside normal working hours by 65.9% of respondents and by arranging specific time periods by 43.2% of respondents. In general, domiciliary care was limited to prosthetic treatment, extractions, scaling and polishing, and simple restorations. A statistical association was found between number of years since graduation and the provision of domiciliary care.