Earlier studies hav  e shown that employers ar e keen to hav e employees whose attitudinal and behavioraltrait  s are consistent with the employers’ ideology. One wa y of ascertaining th e imag   e of idea  l individuals isto analyze th e required qualifications in job advertisements. The ai m of  thi  s study wa s to explore possiblechanges in the employers’ vie w of the idea  l manager and dentist in the Swedish Public Dental HealthService (PDHS). The stud y investigated th e kind s an d frequencies of  manifestly required qualificationsconcerning vacancies in the PDHS fro m January 1990 to December 1998. All job advertisements intendedfo r dentists an d managers on different hierarchical level   s in general dentistry wer e included (n= 1152);570  5 qualification demands were analyzed by  content analysis permitting quantitative descriptions of  thetextual material as  wel  l as  an analysis of th e underlying characteristics over time. The stud  y indicates that  ,fo r dentists, dental professional qualifications or  qualifications in accordance with the official objective ofdental car  e wer  e insufficient. Whil   e requests for qualifications relating to th e economic organizationalgoal   s of  the PDHS increased during the latte r par t of  the period under study, requests relating to thedental profession decreased. For managers, too  , th e demands for dental professional qualifications haddecreased at  the end of  the studied period compared to th e demands fo r managerial qualifications an dnon-professional qualifications, whic h ha d increased. In conclusion, th e job advertisement portrays theidea  l dentist and manager primarily as an economic organizational asset.