Pricing Dental Services: A Market Testing Approach

Evidence from the economics literature is examined with reference to whether prices of dental services tend to equal or exceed production costs, and whether dentists may be characterized as price-takers or price-setters. Ability to generalize from the methods and conceptualization of costs is important in evaluating the evidence. Dentists appear to act as price-takers, but market prices remain greater than production costs. Conditions sufficient to produce a fully competitive result are apparently lacking in the dental services market.