Sociodemographic and workload characteristics of dentists who participated in national survey, 1995.

Comprehensive, standardized data on the sociodemographic characteristics and workload of dentists in different provinces and territories in Canada are not available. The authors mailed a survey to a stratified random sample of dentists (n = 6,444) with three follow-up attempts. The response rate was 66.4%. Significant provincial and territorial differences in sociodemographic characteristics included gender, age, years since graduation, marital status, population size of town or city where primary practice is located and patient load. There was considerable variation in dentists' workload: more than 10% of dentists from New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island reported seeing > or = 30 patients per day. The majority of respondents reported seeing patients for 25 to 40 hours per week. British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland had a greater proportion of respondents > or = 60 years of age compared with other provinces/territories, indicating that there may be more opportunities in these provinces for younger dentists as a result of retirements.