The possible reasons why dentists in full-time primary employment engage in additional  part-time private practice

Khalid Al-Balkhi, BDS, MSc, Majid Al-Mohaimeed, BDS, 
Othman Al-Mutairy, BDS
College of Dentistry, King Saudi University

Very few articles have addressed and/or analyzed the reasons behind the decision to work part-time in private dental practices.^1-13 The majority of those studies were done on females, indicating that females are more likely to work part-time than males.^1-8  The collective reasons behind working part-time rather than full-time, were family or domestic commitments (caring for children), increasing competition in private practice, and limited amount of dental work available. 

Searching the literature, no report was found which addressed the reasons why male dentists engage in part-time private practice as part-time dental consultants in addition to their full-time primary employment.  In this unique situation, it could be assumed that financial aspects or obligations, or other self-motivation factors may be possible reasons behind such engagement.  However, such possible reasons need to be investigated or analyzed.

Self-administered questionnaires were distributed and collected by hand from 46 Saudi male dentists legally working as part-time dental consultants in private practices or hospitals in addition to their full-time primary employment as clinicians and academicians in their hospitals or dental college in Riyadh City.  The questionnaires included, personal data of the participant (eg. marital status, number of children, salary), dentist opinion regarding working satisfactions and work efficiency. McNemer and Chi-square tests were used for the data analysis. The significant level was set at 5%.

All 46 distributed questionnaires were returned.  The age of the respondents ranged between 27 and 58 years with an average of 36.7 years.  Only 4.3% of the surveyed dentists were single and 95.7% were married, with the highest percentage of the dentists (32.6%) having 3 children.  With regards to the monthly salary of the full-time job, 34.8% of the dentists received less than 15,000 Saudi Riyals (SR), 34.8% received between 15,000 - 20,000 SR, and 30.4% received more than 20,000 SR  (Table 1).

Variables related to professional job satisfaction

The satisfaction results for each factor in comparison between part- and full-time jobs were as follows:

Laboratory work  (Table 2)

     In the full-time job 56.5% of the respondents were satisfied and 34.8% were not satisfied.  In the part-time job 93.5% were satisfied, and 6.5% were not satisfied.  The remaining did not respond to this variable.

     The satisfaction of the dentists with the received laboratory work in their part time jobs was higher compared to that of their full time jobs and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.001).

Collaboration with other dental specialists  (Table 2)

In the full-time job 71.7% of the dentists were satisfied, 23.9% were not satisfied.  In the part-time job 91.3% were satisfied and 6.5% were not satisfied.  The remaining did not reply.

The satisfaction of the dentists with the collaboration with other dental specialists in their part-time jobs was statistically  significantly higher compared to that of their full time jobs (P < 0.0005).

Patient's cooperation  (Table 2)

Half of the respondents (50%) were satisfied with patients cooperation in the full-time job compared to 91.3% in the part-time job and the difference between the two was statistically significant (P=0.025).

Selecting the number or the time of clinical sessions  (Table 2)

Of the respondents, 45.7% were satisfied with selecting the number or the time of their clinical sessions in the full-time job compared to 97.8% in the part-time job and the difference between the two was statistically significant (P=0.015).

Selecting the number or the type of cases  (Table 2)

Of the respondents, 45.7% were satisfied with selecting the number or the type of their clinical cases in the full-time job compared to 89.1% in the part-time job. The difference between the two was not significant (P = 0.064).

Availability and selection of dental materials  (Table 2)

Of the respondents, 56.5% were satisfied with the availability and selection of dental materials in their full-time job compared to 95.6% in the part-time job and the difference between the two was statistically significant (P = 0.002).

Standards and quality control  (Table 2)

Of the respondents, 69.6% were satisfied with the quality and standard of provided treatment in their full-time job compared to 97.8% in the part-time job, and the difference between the two was significant (P<0.0005).

Continuity of dental assistant (Table 2)

Of the respondents, 65.2% were satisfied with selecting and maintaining the same dental assistant, in their full-time job compared to 93.5% in the part-time job and the difference between the two was statistically significant (P < 0.0005).

Comparing part-time and full-time monthly incomes showed that the income of the part-time job was either less than ¼ or between ¼ - ½ the salary of the full time job for the majority of cases (P < 0.0005) as shown in Figure 1.

Over half of the participants (56.6%) indicated that their part-time job positively affected their full-time job, whereas only 13% reported negative effect (P<0.05) as shown in Figure 2.

The efficiency in the part-time and full-time jobs is shown in Figure 3.  Nearly 33% of the dentists were more efficient in their part-time job compared to 17.4% in their full-time job (P<0.001). The efficiency of the dental assistant was more (43.5%) in the part-time job compared to the full-time job (15.2%) (P=0.001). The efficiency of laboratory work was higher (54.4%) in part-time than full-time jobs (8.7%) (P<0.0005). The efficiency of material used was more (45.2%) in part-time than full-time jobs (8.7%) (P<0.0005). The efficiency of referral system with other specialties was higher (50%) in part-time than full-time jobs (21.7%) (P=0.035)

Comparing the findings of the present study to the findings of reported studies may not be applicable.^1-13  Since the participants in the present study were only male dentists, who have full-time job and are legally working as part-time dental consultants in private dental practices or hospitals which is not the case with all reported studies in the literature.

The result of the present study revealed that there was no significant correlation between the number of children in the family and working additional part-time job, although most of the participants were married.  On the other hand, the amount of full-time salary (whether it was less than 15,000 or between 15,000-20,000 or above 20,000 Saudi Riyals), did not appear to be significantly correlated with dentists working additional part-time job.  The salary from the full-time job was the main source of income while the part-time income was as supplementary.  Therefore, when considering all those points, it seems that, for the majority of the participants the financial aspect or obligations may not be the main reasons for seeking additional part-time jobs in private dental practices.

The dentists were highly efficient and satisfied with their work in their part-time jobs compared to their full-time jobs.  The laboratory work, cooperation of other specialties (collaboration or referral system), patient compliance, selection or timing of clinical sessions, availability of dental materials, treatment standard, and working with the same dental assistant all were significantly satisfactory in their part-time job.  This could be related to the following possible reasons:

1.  The part-time jobs in private dental practices are profitable organizations, whereas the full-time jobs are governmental / academic institutions which are not profitable organization.

2.  Private practices are usually administratively simple and small institutions, whereas government / academic institutions are usually administratively very complex and large institutions.

     These two reasons may logically dictate that there should be a big difference in the way the administrative, decision making, efficiency and control of the work are performed by the dentist.  In private practices things may be simpler and more straight forward, which allow the dentist to control his work more carefully and become more satisfied and efficient with his work outcome.

This study demonstrated that:

1. The dentist self-satisfaction in performing his duties appeared to be a significant reason for seeking part-time job.
2. Dentists were more efficient in their part-time job.
3. Working part-time had positive influence on the full-time job.
4. The main dental income for the majority of dentists was from their full-time job, with the part-time job income eing supplementary. 

Address reprint requests to:

Dr. Khalid Al-Balkhi
Department of Preventive Dental Sciences
College of Dentistry, King Saud University
P.O. Box 60169, Riyadh 11545, KSA
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Table 1.  The percentage of marital status, number of children and full-time monthly salary

Table 2.   Variables addressing work satisfaction in percentage

Figure 1. Part-time income in relation to full-time salary

Figure 2. The effect of part-time upon full-time work

Figure 3. The efficiency in both part and full time jobs