Why do dental patients want appointments more when they're harder to get? Because humans want what is not freely available. Behavioral research on scarcity, restriction, and limited availability spans decades and applies across categories: medical specialists with months-long wait lists, CE courses booked out a year in advance, cars without the right color or trim on the lot. In every case, the difficulty of obtaining the thing increases the perceived value of the thing. The patient who is told they can come in any time experiences less urgency. The patient who is told the next available consultation is three weeks out [...]

Why do dental patients want appointments more when they're harder to get? Because humans want what is not freely available. Behavioral research on scarcity, restriction, and limited availability spans decades and applies across categories: medical specialists with months-long wait lists, CE courses booked out a year in advance, cars without the right color or trim on the lot. In every case, the difficulty of obtaining the thing increases the perceived value of the thing. The patient who is told they can come in any time experiences less urgency. The patient who is told the next available consultation is three weeks out [...]

Why do dental patients want appointments more when they're harder to get? Because humans want what is not freely available. Behavioral research on scarcity, restriction, and limited availability spans decades and applies across categories: medical specialists with months-long wait lists, CE courses booked out a year in advance, cars without the right color or trim on the lot. In every case, the difficulty of obtaining the thing increases the perceived value of the thing. The patient who is told they can come in any time experiences less urgency. The patient who is told the next available consultation is three weeks out [...]