UK general population willingness to pay for scale and polish, and detailed and personalized oral hygiene advice

Abstract Objectives Understanding the value the general population place on dentistry services is important for policymakers to aide service planning. Willingness to pay (WTP) is an economic method used to elicit the value of a good or service. The aim of this study is to estimate United Kingdom (UK) general population WTP for commonly provided scale and polish, and detailed and personalized oral hygiene advice (OHA), and to investigate what factors influence WTP. Methods Participants completed an online hypothetical WTP survey for scale and polish and detailed and personalized oral hygiene advice. The estimation sample consisted of 1405 participants, nationally representative of the UK general population in terms of age and sex. Regression analysis was used to estimate WTP and determine what factors are associated with WTP. Analyses were conducted including and excluding protest answers. Results The mean (SD) WTP for a scale and polish is £26.77 (£21.91) excluding protest answers and £24.80 (£22.71) for the full sample. The mean (SD) WTP for detailed and personalized OHA is £16.56 (£19.75) excluding protest answers and £12.77 (£22.28) for the full sample. Participants on higher incomes, private attenders and those who stated that maintaining clean and healthy gums was important had higher WTP for both services. Participants in Scotland and Northern Ireland were WTP less than their English counterparts, reflecting the different regional specific payment systems. Conclusion The general UK population value scale and polish, and detailed and personalized OHA. This study provides estimates of WTP for these services which can be used to inform resource allocation decisions.