Planning dental services using the methods of marketing

Aim. To justify the use of marketing methods in the activities of dental institutions. Methods. During the period 2008-2011 conducted was a sociological survey of 857 patients with detailed clinical examination; eight predictive models were developed. Used were variational statistics, regression analysis, mathematical modeling, expert method. Results. 171 (27.0%) men and 460 (73.0%) women went to seek care in commercial dental institutions. 267 (33.0%) men and 459 (67.0%) women went to seek care in state dental institutions. The referability of women to dentists was higher in both cases (p <0.05). Women aged 20-29 years preferred to go to commercial dental institutions (32.0±2.3%), than to the state ones (17.0±1.8%, p <0.001), while men, on the contrary, went to the state (37.0±2.4%) rather than commercial dental institutions (20.0±2.0%, p <0.001). At the age of 30-39 years the women went to state dental institutions (33%) more frequently than to commercial dental institutions (29%), while men - mostly to commercial dental institutions (26%) compared with the state (17%). Among the reasons for seeking dental treatment in a commercial organization the first one is the lack of queues at the reception: to surgeons 46.1±1.7%, therapists 58.3±1.7% and orthopedists 60.0±1.85%; the second place is held by a convenient patient schedule: for the profile of surgery 34.2±1.6%, therapy - 26.7±1.5%, orthopedics - 22.0±1.4%, and the contribution of other causes did not exceed 10.0±1.0%. Proposed were eight prognostic models in the form of regression analysis equations for complex evaluation of the influence of factors, which determine the choice of a health care institution, and the referral to the therapist-dentist, surgeon-dentist, orthopedist-dentist, and orthodontist both in public and private health care organizations. Conclusion. Prognostic matrices, calculated using the formulas of mathematical analysis, can be used when planning outpatient dental care, justifying the required number of dentists’ positions in the state and commercial dental organizations.

prognostic matrix, mathematical models for prediction, dental services, social, economic and medical factors of marketing