Chair Utilization in an Academic Dental Setting

Objectives: Little is known about dental chair utilization in academic dental institutions and factors impacting dental chair utilization. The University of Iowa College of Dentistry (COD) initiated an analysis of dental chair utilization to determine if the current number of dental chairs can meet current and future patient demands. Methods: Utilization ratios of COD's eleven clinical departments between July 2001 and June 2005 were computed in two ways: 1) scheduled time/chair available time, and 2) scheduled time/provider available time. Because the actual chair utilization data were not available, the authors used scheduled time captured by COD's information system, Windent. Provider available time was retrieved from weekly schedules for faculty and residents and dental students' clinical schedule. The authors also analyzed the utilization ratios by four-week period and by day of the week to detect seasonality between July 2004 and June 2005. Results: Annualized chair utilization: scheduled time/chair available time ranged from 9% to 60% while scheduled time/provider available time ranged from 56% to 77%. Chair utilization by four-week period and by day of the week indicated obvious seasonality consistent with COD's pre-doctoral calendar. Conclusion: Although COD's care providers perceived they may need more chairs to provide additional services, this study revealed that: 1) the apparent constraint is provider availability instead of chair availability; and 2) fluctuating provider availability generated seasonality in chair utilization. Controlling the constraint and seasonality by adjusting provider availability would create plenty of opportunities to provide more services without a need for additional chairs. Provider scheduling with consideration for maximizing chair utilization should help manage dental operatories more efficiently and allow for better capacity planning decisions. Further studies using actual operating time should be done to obtain more accurate data.