Practice Management
Ivey Agee Wainwright, DDS
Pediatric Dental Resident, PGY-2
NYU Lutheran Dental Medicine, Brooklyn, NY
NYU Langone-Tucson Arizona
Sahuarita, Arizona, United States
Amanda Pinder, DDS, MS
Program Director
NYU Langone - Tucson, AZ
Tucson, Arizona, United States
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to discover if pediatric dentists are aware of the possible benefits associated with hiring an expanded function dental assistant, and if they are open to utilizing EFDA's in their practices.
Methods: A recruitment email was sent to members of the western district of the AAPD. The study population consisted of 1,600 members. Subjects were asked to complete an anonymous survey in REDCap about their views towards EFDA's to answer the research question: Are pediatric dentists aware of the potential benefits associated with hiring an expanded function dental assistant, and are they open to utilizing EFDA's in their practices?
Results: One hundred nine surveys were collected. Most respondents (70.6%) have been in practice for 10 or more years. 52.3% answered that their state currently allows EFDA's to place & condense amalgam, or place & finish composite. 70.6% felt neutral. For the 2nd attitude question, 53.2% felt the most limiting factor to the acceptance of EFDA's was quality of work. For the practice question, 61.5% would hire or work with an EFDA.
Conclusions: Dentists attitudes towards the perceived limitations of EFDA's differ by their awareness of the existence of the program. 61.9% of those who were unsure of whether or not their state allowed EFDA's to place and finish restorations versus 64.9% of those who answered yes to awareness of these programs feel legislature is the most limiting factor. 25.8% answered that their state did not allow EFDA's (P=.009).