Content Dam Diq Online Articles 2016 10 Gun Bullets Diqthumb
Content Dam Diq Online Articles 2016 10 Gun Bullets Diqthumb
Content Dam Diq Online Articles 2016 10 Gun Bullets Diqthumb
Content Dam Diq Online Articles 2016 10 Gun Bullets Diqthumb
Content Dam Diq Online Articles 2016 10 Gun Bullets Diqthumb

Guns, drugs, and dentistry: Should weapons be permitted in dental offices?

Nov. 1, 2016
Following an incident during which a dental patient accidentally discharged his gun in a dental office, Apex360 surveyed dentists, dental hygienists, and other dental professionals about weapons in dental offices.
Following an incident during which a dental patient accidentally discharged his gun in a dental office, Apex360 surveyed dentists, dental hygienists, and other dental professionals about weapons in dental offices. See what they said and get our analysis below.

On August 31, 2016, a 72-year-old dental patient in New Carlisle, Ohio, was given nitrous oxide in advance of a procedure at New Carlisle Dental Group. (1) While under the influence, he reportedly attempted to answer his cell phone but instead discharged his pistol, shooting himself. (1) No one else was injured, and the patient, who possessed a permit to carry a concealed weapon, was taken to the hospital for treatment of the wounds on his hand and abdomen. (1) The dental office did not have signs posted prohibiting patients from carrying firearms into the facilities. (2)

Following the incident, Apex360 surveyed its audiences through mid-October. We had one big question for our readers: "In light of this event, do you think dental offices should post signs prohibiting patients from carrying weapons inside? Why or why not?"

A total of 762 people chimed in. Find out what they said, where they live, and what they do in the dental industry below. Then, join the conversation—leave a comment below to share your opinion.

Location


Figure 1:
Respondents' locations (click to enlarge)

Respondents locations were widely distributed across the United States (figure 1). The top five states our respondents call home are California (7.48%), Texas (6.3%), Florida (6.17%), Michigan (5.25%), and New York (4.72%). These figures mostly reflect the distribution of the US population across the states, as California, Texas, New York, and Florida are the four most populous states according to 2015 US Census Bureau data. (3)

Interestingly, 3.54% of respondents reported not living in the United States or any of its territories. While statistically insignificant, this segment of the audience was distinctly different from other similarly sized segments of the audience (as filtered by age, location, occupation, etc.) in that 70.37% responded that dental offices should prohibit patients from carrying weapons inside.

Age

Figure 2: Respondents' ages

The 50–59 group was the largest, accounting for 21.26% of all survey respondents (figure 2). The 60–69 group (20.34%), 30–39 group (19.42%), 40–49 group (17.45%), and 20–29 group (17.19%) followed closely. Fewer responses were received from the 70-plus group, which accounted for 4.2% of all respondents, and only one response was received from the 19-and-under group.

What's noteworthy about the ages of our respondents? The percentage of those who think dental offices should not post signage to prohibit weapons on the premises seems to trend upward slightly with age, while the percentage of those who think offices should post signage to prohibit weapons seems to trend downward slightly with age (figure 3).


Figure 3:
Respondents' opinions about using signs to prohibit guns in the dental office, clustered by age

Occupation

The survey drew responses from individuals throughout the dental industry—including clinicians, front office staff, students, professors, consultants, and industry professionals in marketing, sales, etc.—but dentists (41.21%) and dental hygienists (38.58%) made up the majority of respondents (figure 4).

Figure 4: Respondents' occupations

A total of 314 dentists responded to the survey, 279 of whom self-described as practice owners. Of the 279 practice owners who responded, 21.51% indicated they think dental offices should prohibit patients from carrying weapons inside, while 71.68% answered "no" and 6.81% were uncertain. Results among dentists overall were similar, with 22.29% answering "yes," 71.02% answering "no," and 6.69% answering "I don’t know."

The difference in opinion is slightly less stark among the 294 dental hygienists surveyed. 31.63% of the dental hygienists who responded indicated that they think offices should post signs prohibiting weapons, while 61.56% disagreed. Similar to dentists, approximately 6.8% were uncertain.

Based on the results of this survey, dentists appear less likely than dental hygienists or other professionals to think that offices should post signage prohibiting weapons (figure 5).

Figure 5: Respondents' opinions about using signs to prohibit guns in the dental office, clustered by occupation

Figure 6:
All respondents' opinions about whether signs should be used to prohibit guns in dental offices

But overall, the majority of dental professionals surveyed (63.91%) did not think dental offices should post signs prohibiting patients from carrying weapons inside (figure 6).

Commentary

Apex360 asked survey respondents to explain their answers and collected a total of 680 comments. To learn more about the opinions of dentists, dental hygienists, or the other dental professionals who responded, click on any of the links below to access a PDF of their comments. (i,ii)

DentistsDental hygienists
Other dental professionals"Yes, prohibit""Yes, prohibit""Yes, prohibit""No, don't prohibit""No, don't prohibit""No, don't prohibit""I don't know""I don't know""I don't know"

Editor's note: What do you think? Comment below to join the conversation!

More reading

Corporate dentistry 2.0: Apex360's special feature on dental support organizations (DSOs)
Group versus solo dental practices: A comparison study
Dentists on Yelp: Survey shows missed marketing opportunities

Notes

i. Violent, vulgar, and hateful language has been visibly redacted; comments are otherwise completely unedited.
ii. All opinions were collected anonymously from readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Apex360,its editors, or PennWell Corporation.

References

1. Elderly man injured in accidental shooting at dental office. WHIO website. http://www.whio.com/news/crime--law/elderly-man-injured-accidental-shooting-dental-office/x9QHy1YIW0XbSsUQsWeZoI/. Published August 31, 2016. Updated September 1, 2016. Accessed September 19, 2016.
2. Man reaches for phone, grabs gun instead; shoots himself. New Carlisle News website. http://newcarlislenews.net/index.php/local-government/public-records/1954-70-yr-old-reaches-for-phone-grabs-gun-instead-shoots-himself. Published August 31, 2016. Accessed September 19, 2016.
3. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015: 2015 Population Estimates. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division website. http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk. Published December 2015. Accessed October 26, 2015.

Erin Robinson, MA, is an associate editor in the dental group at PennWell Corporation, where she acts as deputy editor of Apex360 and manages both DentistryIQ's "Products" section and the Dental Economics e-newsletter, Pearls for Your Practice: The Product Navigator. Erin also edits for Dental Economics and RDH magazine. Prior to joining the dental team at PennWell, Erin completed her master's degree at the University of Tulsa, where she taught professional writing to students majoring in business, engineering, and the natural sciences. To contact Erin or submit an article, e-mail [email protected].
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