The effect of the price of dental services on their demand and utilisation in Norway.

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of the price of dental services on their demand and utilisation. These effects cannot be examined in cross-sectional studies when prices are fixed, as they are in Norway, but they can be studied over a period of time, as the price for dental services has changed relative to the prices for other goods. The analyses were performed on 7 sets of data, collected every second year, over the period 1977 to 1989. The samples were representative of the non-institutionalised Norwegian population aged 20 years and over. Price had a different effect on demand than on utilisation. There was no statistically significant association between price and demand. Utilisation decreased with increasing price, and this can be explained in two ways. First, it may express patients' response to reduced prices, and second, it may express the dentists' response to reduced prices. If the latter explanation is correct, this means that the dental care market is rather special. Consumers are not dominant. Dentists, as providers, can, to a certain extent, influence the uptake of the services they provide.