Oral Health and Dental Management

Abstract

Lead Public Health Service Dentists

Paula Alestalo, Eeva Widstr

Aim: To survey the leadership of the Finnish Public Dental Service (PDS) from the viewpoints of lead dentists themselves, their immediate superiors, their subordinates, and municipal decision makers during a period when the implementation of a major national dental care reform eliminating age restrictions in access to care in the PDS started. Methods: Data on leadership qualities and styles were collected from the lead PDS dentists and leading doctors, the directors of the municipal health boards and a random sample of public health service dentists (altogether N=1096) who were surveyed using a questionnaire sent by e-mail to those with an e-mail address and by post to those without. Factor analysis, chi-square, and non-parametric tests were used in analysis. Results: The response rates varied between the groups from 126 (54%) for directors of municipal health boards to 277 (76%) for public health service dentists. On average, 132 (72%) of the lead dentists and 108 (72%) of leading doctors but only 125 (46%) of the public dentists considered their lead dentist as a good boss (P