Out-of-Pocket Costs in the Private and the Public Sector in Dentistry: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the out-of-pocket expenses for an adult population provided by private and public sector dentists. Data was collected from 250 adults presenting to government dental hospitals and 250 adults presenting to private dental clinics across Chennai for their dental care. Questionnaire data covered sociodemographic background, socio-economic status, dental care utilization, marginal time cost estimates, fees spent, traveling cost for the dental care and the satisfaction of the treatment provided. The overall time taken to travel and in waiting in the private sector was less than 15 min (67%) and nearly 30 min (44%) in the public sector. In both the sectors, the maximum number of people (around 70%) felt that time involved in treatment given by dentist was around 15–59 min. On average, private sector patients were spending INR 5488.2 for dental care every year. As the public sector dental hospital works with the support of government, none of the patients was charged with fee. Hence the patients in the private sector had higher out-of-pocket costs than the public sector. The total costs of dental care in the private sector in a year were 50 times greater than the cost spent by the patients in public sector. The observed cost differences between the two sectors may indicate that private practitioners cost more than the public hospital but the loss of pay for the private sector patients is more when compared to public sector patients. On the other hand, patients in both the sectors were satisfied with the treatment given by their dentists and also most of them felt that their oral health has improved after their dental care.

Keywords: Out-of-pocket costs, dental treatment, fees, loss of pay