The Effects of Price Reductions on Uptake of Preventive Dental Care

NCT07465952 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: Dentistry_price
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 172,800
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study evaluates the effectiveness of price discounts in encouraging patients to schedule dental check-ups. Patients will be randomized to receive WhatsApp messages offering a preventive dental check-up at different price levels with or without a discount coupon for future dental treatments.

Conditions

Preventive Oral Health

Keywords

behavioral science; text messages; patient outreach

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Preventive Dental appointment scheduling

  Proportion of patients that schedule a preventive dental check-up

  Within 7 days of receiving the WhatsApp message

• Preventive Dental appointment attendance

  Proportion of patients that attend a preventive dental check-up

  Within 30 days of receiving the WhatsApp message

• Subsequent Dental appointment scheduling

  Proportion of patients that schedule a dental treatment, following their preventive dental check-up (which equals 1 only if the patient completes a preventive dental check-up and then schedules a follow-up dental treatment)

  Within 60 days of receiving the Whatsapp message

• Subsequent Dental appointment attendance

  Proportion of patients that attend their dental treatment following their preventive dental check-up (which equals 1 only if the patient completes a preventive dental check-up and then completes a follow-up dental treatment)

  Within 90 days of receiving the Whatsapp message

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• No-Show

  Within 30 days of receiving the WhatsApp message

• Interest in scheduling

  Within 7 days of receiving the WhatsApp message

• Any dental appointment scheduling

  Within 7 days of receiving the WhatsApp message

Study Arms (4)

Holdout

NO INTERVENTION

Patients do not receive a Whatsapp message

$9,990

EXPERIMENTAL

Dental appointment message with intermediate price discount

Behavioral: Dental appointment message with intermediate price discount

$4,990

EXPERIMENTAL

Dental appointment message with large price discount

Behavioral: Dental appointment message with large price discount

$9990 plus coupon

EXPERIMENTAL

Dental appointment message with intermediate price discount and coupon

Behavioral: Dental appointment message with intermediate price discount and coupon

Interventions

Dental appointment message with intermediate price discount BEHAVIORAL

Patients receive a WhatsApp message offering a preventive dental check-up for $9,990.

$9,990

Dental appointment message with large price discount BEHAVIORAL

Patients receive a WhatsApp message offering a preventive dental check-up for $4,990.

$4,990

Dental appointment message with intermediate price discount and coupon BEHAVIORAL

Patients receive a WhatsApp message offering a preventive dental check-up for $9990, plus a coupon for future treatments.

$9990 plus coupon

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 70 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

Two groups are considered for this experiment, each defined by the following criteria: Group 1: * Patients who have an appointment scheduled within the next 1 to 7 days * The appointment must be scheduled in the medical area only * The appointment must be at a center that also offers dental services * Patients who have not received a preventive dental message in the last month * Patients over 18 years old * Patients with a valid phone number to receive WhatsApp messages * Patients who have not attended a dental appointment in the last 6 months * Patients who do not have a future dental appointment scheduled Group 2: * Patients who do not meet the criteria for Group 1 and who have an appointment the following day or attended an appointment the previous day * The appointment may be in the Medical, Laboratory, Imaging, Telemedicine, Kinesiology, Vaccination, or Procedures areas * Patients who have not received a preventive dental message in the last month * Patients over 18 years old * Patients with a valid phone number to receive WhatsApp messages * Patients who have not attended a dental appointment in the last 6 months * Patients who do not have a future dental appointment scheduled 58.33% of the participants will be allocated to the large discount condition, 27.78% allocated to the intermediate discount condition, and 13.89% allocated to the intermediate discount + voucher condition.

Contact the study team to discuss eligibility requirements. They can help determine if this study is right for you.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Chile: lead

Study Sites (1)

Partnering clinic network

Santiago, Chile

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, CARE PROVIDER
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 6, 2026
• First Posted: March 12, 2026
• Study Start: March 2, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Last Updated: March 20, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CL (1)