Objective: To evaluate dentists' perception towards income and other financial aspects of dentistry. Methods: The study population comprised 432 dentists, sampled by a non- probability method. A questionnaire which included information on dentists' demography and closed-ended questions was administered among 432 participants at the annual congress of Iranian Dental Association in March 2003. Sex, marital status and type of occupation were independent variables in this study. A reliability test was performed and the Mann Whitney test was used in order to statistically analyze the raw data. Results: This investigation showed that male dentists were more satisfied with their income and could save more for their future than females. (p<0.001) Dentists who worked in their own private offices were more satisfied with their income in comparison to others. (p<0.001) Most of the dentists (%88/1) agreed that patients in Iran could not generally afford necessary dental costs; on the other hand %84/1 of dentists believed that treatment charges should be increased. %66/7 of dentists who participated in this study asserted that they could not save a part of their income for their future and %80/9 worried about their livelihood after retirement. Conclusions: Dentists in Iran are strongly worried about their future and retirement plans. Patients can not afford current dental costs; while dentists consider increasing the dental treatment charges. This situation clearly shows the importance of establishing a comprehensive insurance system to cover patients and dentists, as well as retirement and pension plans for the dentists in Iran.

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