A Study on the Pricing Factors of Self-Paid Dental Clinic Services

This research aims to examine customers’ willingness to consume self-paid dental clinical services, such as implants, dentures, orthodontics, and whitening, under Taiwan’s current National Health Insurance program.he study employs statistical analysis of data collected from two sources: 1. telephone interviews of 37 dental clinics in the Taipei area regarding the pricing of implants, dentures, orthodontics, and whitening services; and, 2. a survey conducted with a total of 70 dental services consumers to explore their consumer behavior. ur research found that “clinic equipment” and “distance to dental clinic” are the most important factors affecting consumers’ choice of denture services. Regarding orthodontics and implant services, dentist skill and the service attitude of nurses most greatly impact consumers’ price-level acceptance. e thus provide the following suggestions for dentists regarding their pricing strategies towards self-paid dental services: 1. Dentists may provide information brochures explaining self-paid dental services, since most surveyed consumers lack knowledge of such services. 2. Consumers can accept differing prices due to differing quality of material used in orthodontic and implant dental services. In addition, dentists may use activities-based-costing methods to help determine the pricing for implants. 3. Female consumers aged 36 to 45 are more inclined to accept self-paid dental treatments, so dental clinics can target those consumers. 4. When consuming implant services, patients are affected by the distance to clinics and their monthly purchase power. 5. The prices that consumers are willing to pay for self-paid dental services are lower than the prices currently charged to them. Dental clinics may benefit from restructuring their services package to better satisfy customers.