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Patient Preferences and the Measurement of Utilities in the Evaluation of Dental Technologies

¹ Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1200, Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8N 3Z5, Canada; and
² School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, 1011 N. University, D2361, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078;

* corresponding author, ismailai{at}umich.edu

Advances in life sciences that are predicted in the 21st century will present many challenges for health professionals and policy-makers. The major questions will be how to allocate resources to pay for costs of new technologies and who will best benefit from advances in new diagnostic and treatment methods. We review in this paper the concept of utility and how it can be applied and expanded to provide data to help health professionals make decisions that are preferred by patients and the public at large. Utility is a measure of people's well-being or preferences for outcomes. The measurement of utilities of a new diagnostic technology, for example, can be carried out with the use of simple methods that do not incorporate all of the uncertainties and potential outcomes associated with providing the test, or with more complex methods that can incorporate most uncertainties. This review describes and critiques the different measurement methods of utilities.

KEY WORDS: dental technology • assessment • preferences • utilities • outcomes • health services research

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