Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Advertising by dentists in the United States is a relatively recent phenomenon. Historically, most professions prohibited licensed members from engaging in speech activities that proposed a commercial transaction — advertising. The history of a dentist's legal right to advertise is, however, not the main focus of this paper. A brief review of the past, present and possible future of such rights might assist readers in understanding the revolutionary constitutional and commercial speech changes that have occurred over the past three decades. A dentist's legal right to advertise in the United States has developed as part of the evolutionary interpretation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) consumers' attitudes toward advertising by dentists and (b) whether age, occupation, family household income and education of the consumer accounted for any significant difference in attitude toward dentists who advertise in the United States. The intent was to discover information that would be useful to dentists in planning marketing strategies and improving the quality of their advertising. The study seems to confirm the belief of many marketing professionals that advertising and marketing clearly have a place in the future of healthcare services.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Rizzo

Zeckhauser

(1992). Advertising and the price, quantity, and quality of primary care physician services. J. Hum. Res. 27, 38–421.

Allen

B. H.

Wright

R. A

Raho

L. E.

(1985). Physicians and advertising. J. Health Care Market. 5, 39–49.

Duffus

L. R.

(1990). Physicians personally oppose Ads, but say it's ok to use them. Market. News 24, 19.

Wright

R. A.

Raho

L. E.

Berkowitz

E. N.

(1989). Physician attitudes about advertising are changing. J. Hosp. Market. 3, 49–50.

Stevens

R. E.

McConkey

W. C.

Loudon

D. L.

(1990). Dentists'attitudes toward advertising. Health Market. Quart. 8, 79–94.

Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977) 97 S. Ct. 2691, 2699.2700.

Kotler

Clarke

R. N.

(1987). Marketing for Health Care Organizations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, p. 265.

ADA agrees to lift restrictions on advertising by dentists, (1979). Advertising Age 50, 95.

Shavell

H. M.

(1985). Today's marking — cachet of disaster. J. California Dent. Assoc. 11, 34–41.

10.

Barry

V. J.

(1988). The whole world is watching. J. Amer. Coll. Dent. 53, 38.

11.

Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976) 425 U.S.748; 96 S.Ct.1817.

12.

Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar Association (1975) 421 U.S. 773.

13.

Berndt

E. R.

Bui

Reiley

D. R.

Urban

G. L.

(1995). Information, marketing, and pricing in the U. S. antiulcer drug market. Amer. Econ. Rev. 85, 100–105.

14.

Janda

Wang

(1996). Matching dental offerings with expectations. J. Health Care Market. 16, 38–45.

15.

Rutsohn

Ibrahim

N. A.

(2000). An analysis of the demand for regular dental health care: Implications for marketing. Health Market. Quart. 17, 25.

16.

Handlin

Mosca

J. B.

Forgione

D. A.

Pitta

(2003). DTC pharmaceutical advertising: The debate's not over. J. Consum. Market. 20, 227–232.

17.

Carabello

(2003). Quality of information in physician advertising under close scrutiny. Healthleader, pp. 1–4.

18.

Sahl

J. P.

(2003). The cost of humanitarian assistance: Ethical rules and the first amendment. St. Mary's Law J. 34, 795.

19.

Hekmat

Heischmidt

K. A.

(1996). Information source preference and dental selection. Int. J. Pub. Admin. 19, 1221–1240.

20.

Sanchez

P. M.

(1988). The case for/against the effectiveness of dental services advertising: Implications and recommendation. J. Dent. Pract. Admin. 5, 25–29.

21.

Leventhal

R. C.

(1995). The marketing of physicians' services: Should doctors advertise?. Health Market. Quart. 12, 49.

22.

Moncrief

W. C.

Bush

A. J.

(1988). Consumer attitudes toward professionals' television advertising. Prof. Serv. Market. 3(3), 23–37.

23.

Pickett

Grove

S. J.

Ratcliff

(1992). Using promotion to increase dental practices. J. Health Care Market. 12, 22–31.

24.

Wayne

C. E.

Weller

R. B.

(1994). The practice of marketing by dentists. Health Market. Quart. 12, 73–97.

25.

Bernstein

A. B.

Gauthier

A. K.

(1999). Choices in health care: What are they and what are they worth?. Med. Care Res. Rev. 56, 5–23.

26.

Lubalin

J. S.

Harris-Kojetin

L. D.

(1999). What do consumers want and need to know in making health care choices. Med. Care Res. Rev. 56, 67–102.

27.

Freedman

(2001). New techniques in ambulance chasing. Forbes 168(12), 56.

28.

Hite

R. E.

(1982). An empirical analysis of consumers' attitudes toward accountants, attorneys, and physicians with respect to advertising professional services, PhD Dissertation, University of Arkansas.

29.

Miller

J. A.

Waller

(1979). Health care advertising: Consumer vs. physician attitudes. J. Advert. 8, 20–29.

30.

Berenson

M. L.

Levine

D. M.

(1992). Basic Business Statistics: Concepts and Application, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliff, NJ.

31.

Clow

K. E.

Fischer

K. A.

O'Bryan

(1995). Patient expectations of dental services. J. Health Care Market. 15, 23–32.

32.

Crane

F. G.

(1996). The relative effect of price and personal referral cues on consumers' perception of dental services. Health Market. Quart. 13, 91–106.

33.

Yavas

Riechen

(2001). Attitudes of U.S. doctors and dentists towards advertising: A comparative study. Int. J. Advert. 20, 341–359.

34.

Wang

Swinder

(1996). Dental services marketing: Do marketsegments based on usage rate differ in terms of determinant attributes?. J. Serv. Market. 10, 41.

How Consumers View Dental Advertising: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References