A survey of Hong Kong dentists' attitudes towards advertising

To determine the attitudes of dental practitioners in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the Peoples' Republic of China towards advertising of dental services by members of the profession, a practice that is currently not permitted by legislation.

Self-completion questionnaires were mailed to 400 members of the Hong Kong Dental Association. In addition to being presented with a number of closed questions, respondents were invited to expand on their answers in a more qualitative, open-ended manner.

271 replies were received, representing a response rate of 68%. Respondents were largely against a move towards any deregulation which would result in dentists being allowed to advertise their services in the SAR (57.9% against, 28.0% for), this despite a high proportion of respondents reporting that, in their opinion, the Hong Kong public do not know enough about the services provided by dentists in the SAR (69.7%).

Opinions amongst Hong Kong dentists are divided with a majority feeling that a move to allow advertising would not benefit either the public or the profession. There is, however, a significant proportion of dentists who feel that there is a need for such deregulation.