An evaluation of willingness to pay for orthodontic treatments in patients of Shiraz Dental School Clinic

BACKGROUND AND AIM:Estimation of need and demand for orthodontic treatment is important for both healthprofessionals and health policymakers. Need assessment is traditionally done using experts’ opinions;however, patient-centered evaluation can provide a bigger picture ofpatient’s esthetic and psychological needs. The willingness to pay(WTP) technique is a potentially valid tool for assessing the patient views on their needs and for market research inhealthcare.The aim of this study was to evaluate the need anddemand for orthodontic treatment with a patient-centeredapproach using economic analysis.METHODS:A cross-sectional study was designed. Two hundred people attending Shiraz Dental School Clinic wereinterviewed. Their views on the importance and costs of orthodontic treatments and the maximum amountthat theywould pay for such treatments were obtained along with their demographic and socioeconomic factors. Their WTP wasused to elicit values for orthodontic treatment using contingent valuation method (CVM) and econometric techniques.RESULTS:The response rate was 95%. Although 53.5% of respondents felt they needed orthodontic treatment, only33.7% had expressed their need, and just 17.5% hadactually gone for such treatment. The main reason for not takingthe treatment was its cost (56.5%). More than 60% of respondents viewed orthodontics as only a luxurytreatment and70% considered beauty and elegant smile as the most, or one of the most, benefit(s) of orthodontic treatments. WTPresults showed that orthodontic services have highdemand elasticity. Assuming fixed monthly income of8 millionRials, 61% of subjects were ready to pay 20 millionRials for a course of orthodontic treatment.CONCLUSIONS:The result showed that esthetics and high cost of treatment were respectively the most intriguing andthemain inhibiting factors for getting orthodontic treatment. Economic evaluation showed a high elastic estimation fororthodontic treatment.