Authors : Mayur Nath T. Reddy, Mayur Nath T. Reddy, Radhika Mitra, Radhika Mitra, Radhika Muthukuru, Radhika Muthukuru
DOI : 10.18231/j.idjsr.2019.024
Volume : 7
Issue : 4
Year : 2019
Page No : 92-102
Introduction: Dentistry, being one of the healing professions, has a commitment to society that its members will adhere to high ethical standards of conduct. The question on whether Indian dentists should advertise their services is an important issue with significant ethical and professional implications. Dental Council of India (DCI), has also given certain guidelines and regulations on advertising issues. But, studies on dentists’ opinion on the issues on advertising for dental professionals in India are very meagre.
Aim: To determine the attitude and practices of marketing strategies among private dental practitioners in Bengaluru.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among the private dental practitioners in Bengaluru city. A total of 220 dentists were selected by simple random sampling technique. A self-structured, pre-tested, closed-ended questionnaire, comprising of 23 questions was self-administered. The survey tool consisted of participant’s consent, information on demographic details and questions about their attitudes and opinion on marketing strategies that were followed in their clinical practice and the use of social media as a part of marketing strategy by them. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board. Data was analysed using SPSS v.20. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were carried out to check the significant difference.
Results: Of the 220 practicing dentists, 41.8% were undergraduates and 55.9% were postgraduates. A majority of 64.1% of the dentists were in favor of advertising their services. Years of experience of the practitioners was found to be statistically significant with practicing advertising strategies (p=0.000) and favoring social media as a marketing tool (p=0.003). The older age groups were more likely to agree and comply with the government ban on advertising by dentists (p=0.000).
Conclusion: While Indian culture and law does not regard advertising as ethical, in recent years there has been a change in the attitudes of dental professionals to the issue of advertising. This study concludes that ethics are not strictly followed by dental practitioners in their clinical practice. Only a quarter of them agreed on the issue that advertising may make dentistry seem more like a trade.
Keywords: Marketing, Advertising, Dental practitioners, Ethics, Law.