Cost Of Dental Services Research Articles

Ատամնաբուժական զբոսաշրջության զարգացման հեռանկարները Հայաստանում / DENTAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES IN ARMENIA

Dental tourism is a type of medical tourism when patients travel abroad for receiving dental services and treatment. The purpose of dental tourism is to get quality dentistry at a more affordable price and with the use of more modern technologies. Dental tourism is becoming increasingly popular, especially among the population of countries where the cost of dental services is high or their availability is limited. Armenia has high opportunities for dental tourism development. Many tourists come to Armenia for dentistry services. The main methods used in the article are: desk review, interview and SWOT analysis. Based on the interview results among dental tourists, Armenia is a preferable destination for dental tourism based on its affordable prices and high-quality services. The article explores the main issues and prospects for dental tourism promotion in Armenia. Some recommendations were done towards improving marketing, statistical recording, quality of services, processing development programs, creating online med-portal of dental services, applying for international accreditations and certifications etc.

Inequalities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians seen through the lens of oral health: time to change focus.

Inequitable social environments can illustrate changes needed in the social structure to generate more equitable social relations and behaviour. In Australia, British colonization left an intergenerational legacy of racism against Aboriginal people, who are disadvantaged across various social indicators including oral health. Aboriginal Australian children have poorer health outcomes with twice the rate of dental caries as non-Aboriginal children. Our research suggests structural factors outside individual control, including access to and cost of dental services and discrimination from service providers, prevent many Aboriginal families from making optimum oral health decisions, including returning to services. Nader's concept of 'studying up' redirects the lens onto powerful institutions and governing bodies to account for their role in undermining good health outcomes, indicating changes needed in the social structure to improve equality. Policymakers and health providers can critically reflect on structural advantages accorded to whiteness in a colonized country, where power and privilege that often go unnoticed and unexamined by those who benefit incur disadvantages to Aboriginal Australians, as reflected in inequitable oral health outcomes. This approach disrupts the discourse placing Aboriginal people at the centre of the problem. Instead, refocusing the lens onto structural factors will show how those factors can compromise rather than improve health outcomes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary ecology of inequality'.

Costs for Statutorily Insured Dental Services in Older Germans 2012-2017.

Objectives: We assessed the costs of dental services in statutorily insured, very old (geriatric) Germans. Methods: A comprehensive sample of very old (≥75 years) people insured at a large Northeastern statutory insurer was followed over 6 years (2012–2017). We assessed dental services costs for: (1) examination, assessments and advice, (2) operative, (3) surgical, (4) prosthetic, (5) periodontal, (6) preventive and (7) outreach services. Association of utilization with: (1) sex, (2) age, (3) region, (4) social hardship status, (5) International Disease Classification (ICD-10) diagnoses and (6) Diagnoses Related Groups (DRGs) was explored. Results: 404,610 individuals with a mean (standard deviation, SD) age 81.9 (5.4 years) were followed, 173,733 did not survive follow-up. Total mean costs were 129.61 (310.97) euro per capita; the highest costs were for prosthetic (54.40, SD 242.89 euro) and operative services (28.40, SD 68.38 euro), examination/advice (21.15, SD 28.77 euro), prevention (13.31, SD 49.79 euro), surgery (5.91, SD 23.91 euro), outreach (4.81, SD 28.56 euro) and periodontal services (1.64, SD 7.39 euro). The introduction of new fee items for outreach and preventive services between 2012 and 2017 was reflected in costs. Total costs decreased with increasing age, and this was also found for all service blocks except outreach and preventive services. Costs were higher in those with social hardship status, and in Berlin than Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Certain general health conditions were associated with increased or decreased costs. Conclusions: Costs were associated with sex, social hardship status, place of living and general health conditions. Clinical significance: Dental services costs for the elderly in Germany are unequally distributed and, up to a certain age or health status, generated by invasive interventions mainly. Policy makers should incentivize preventive services earlier on and aim to distribute expenses more equally.

Access to Oral health care: a focus on dental caries treatment provision in Enugu Nigeria

BackgroundDental caries, despite improvement in oral health across the globe, is still a large contributor to the global burden of oral diseases and a major public health concern. In Enugu state, Nigeria, there is minimal access to adequate and proper oral health care. This study examined the determinants of dental caries treatment provision and the challenges of providing equitable access to oral health care.MethodThis was a mixed-method cross-sectional descriptive urban-rural study conducted in selected oral health facilities offering primary oral health care in Enugu state. The study was conducted in two phases over a 2 month period. Quantitative data was initially collected from all selected oral health care providers using a survey questionnaire format after which qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews of heads of the selected oral health facilities. The determinants of dental caries treatment services were explored with a focus on provider behavior, cost of dental services, human resource availability and availability of dental equipment.ResultsQuantitative findings show that to a larger extent, the cost of raw materials (100%), human resources (98.1%), infection control resources (98.1%), geographical location (98.1), Government policies (88%) and the price of other goods (80.8%) influence provision of dental caries treatment services. Qualitative results show that location and number of oral health facilities, government funding and policies for oral health, cost of dental equipment and materials, the ability of consumers to pay, human resource availability and consumer awareness of oral health are also factors that influence the provision of dental caries treatment services.ConclusionAdequate access to oral health care services is a major concern that affects all aspects of healthcare and a determining factor in the country’s drive to achieve universal health coverage. In order to address this, oral health facilities need to be strategically located and have adequate materials, equipment and skilled staff. There is a need to incorporate oral health into the general health care system and improve government policies and funding for oral health.

The Prosthodontics Care For Geriatric Patients Nowadays


 The global geriatric (elderly) population is growing as a result of increasing life expectancies. One impact of this development is an increase of lifestyle difference. In the scope of health, especially dental health, the patient’s education is important. The decrease in edentulism cases showsed public awareness of the importance in maintaining the health, function and quality of life in the elderly as well as the necessity of preventive attitudes and interventions against disease. Dental services for geriatric patients are affected by the cost of dental services, dental insurance, dental clinics’ access, debt and needs. The current prosthodontic treatment that improve of missing tooth replacements is in demand is an increasing interest in dental implant treatment. Losing tooth has a negative impact on mastication, aesthetic- and oral health-related quality of life. Excessive bone resorption can occur for many reasons, including age, infection, trauma, metabolic disorders and nutritional deficiencies. The resorption of the alveolar bone, especially in medically compromised patients, is caused by focal infections in the mouth and systemic diseases. Periodontitis or other chronic infections resulted from bacterial and host inflammatory cells. The pathology observation can result in a loss of bone support after a long period of extraction procedures is named residual ridge resorption (RRR). The best treatment for RRR is to avoid tooth extraction so that the loss of teeth and their supportive tissues can be prevented. When there is a loss of teeth and RRR, dentures have been made to reduce the occlusal load are necessary. In addition, the importance of periodic control, utilizing vitamins, oral rinse, topical gels or others, and the intake of nutrients greatly affect the good function of dentures and improve the health of the geriatric patient.

The Prosthodontics Care For Geriatric Patients Nowadays

The global geriatric (elderly) population is growing as a result of increasing life expectancies. One impact of this development is an increase of lifestyle difference. In the scope of health, especially dental health, the patient’s education is important. The decrease in edentulism cases showsed public awareness of the importance in maintaining the health, function and quality of life in the elderly as well as the necessity of preventive attitudes and interventions against disease. Dental services for geriatric patients are affected by the cost of dental services, dental insurance, dental clinics’ access, debt and needs. The current prosthodontic treatment that improve of missing tooth replacements is in demand is an increasing interest in dental implant treatment. Losing tooth has a negative impact on mastication, aesthetic- and oral health-related quality of life. Excessive bone resorption can occur for many reasons, including age, infection, trauma, metabolic disorders and nutritional deficiencies. The resorption of the alveolar bone, especially in medically compromised patients, is caused by focal infections in the mouth and systemic diseases. Periodontitis or other chronic infections resulted from bacterial and host inflammatory cells. The pathology observation can result in a loss of bone support after a long period of extraction procedures is named residual ridge resorption (RRR). The best treatment for RRR is to avoid tooth extraction so that the loss of teeth and their supportive tissues can be prevented. When there is a loss of teeth and RRR, dentures have been made to reduce the occlusal load are necessary. In addition, the importance of periodic control, utilizing vitamins, oral rinse, topical gels or others, and the intake of nutrients greatly affect the good function of dentures and improve the health of the geriatric patient.

Willingness to Pay for Oral Health Care for 350 Users of Public Dental Offices in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire

In Côte d'Ivoire, the financial difficulties experienced by the population represent obstacles to the consumption of oral health care. Thus, insurance mechanisms based on the principle of cost sharing are recommended to improve financial accessibility to this care. The cross-sectional study was conducted with users of three public dental practices in the city of Abidjan. The data were collected using a questionnaire. The numbers and frequencies related to the modalities of the use of oral health care, as well as the users' perception of their costs were calculated. Also, the willingness of users to pay for oral care has been measured. 350 users participated in the study. More than one third of users (36%) felt that the cost of dental services was high. 80.1% and 57.1% of respondents reported spending less than 5 $ US to honor the cost of oral consultation and the purchase of medicines respectively. 74% of users were in favor of setting up an insurance system with a willingness to pay less than 10 $ US per month. This willingness to pay has been estimated for all users at 2 $ US per month. The willingness of populations to contribute to the financing of oral health care has been proven. Achieving universal health coverage based on solidarity requires the establishment of prepayment mechanisms by adjusting the amounts of contributions to each person's ability to pay.

The relative patient costs and availability of dental services, materials and equipment in public oral care facilities in Tanzania.

BackgroundPatient charges and availability of dental services influence utilization of dental services. There is little available information on the cost of dental services and availability of materials and equipment in public dental facilities in Africa. This study aimed to determine the relative cost and availability of dental services, materials and equipment in public oral care facilities in Tanzania. The local factors affecting availability were also studied.MethodsA survey of all district and regional dental clinics in selected regions was conducted in 2014. A total of 28/30 facilities participated in the study. A structured interview was undertaken amongst practitioners and clinic managers within the facilities. Daily resources for consumption (DRC) were used for estimation of patients’ relative cost. DRC are the quantified average financial resources required for an adult Tanzanian’s overall consumption per day.ResultsTooth extractions were found to cost four times the DRC whereas restorations were 9–10 times the DRC. Studied facilities provided tooth extractions (100 %), scaling (86 %), fillings (79 %), root canal treatment (46 %) and fabrication of removable partial dentures (32 %). The ratio of tooth fillings to extractions in the facilities was 1:16. Less than 50 % of the facilities had any of the investigated dental materials consistently available throughout the year, and just three facilities had all the investigated equipment functional and in use.ConclusionsDental materials and equipment availability, skills of the practitioners and the cost of services all play major roles in provision and utilization of comprehensive oral care. These factors are likely to be interlinked and should be taken into consideration when studying any of the factors individually.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12903-015-0061-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effects of occupational regulations on the cost of dental services: Evidence from dental insurance claims

In the United States, occupational regulations influence the work tasks that may legally be performed by dentists and dental hygienists. Only a dentist may legally perform most dental procedures; however, a smaller list of basic procedures may be provided by either a dentist or a dental hygienist. Since dentists and hygienists possess different levels of training and skill and receive very different wages, it is plausible that these regulations could distort the optimal allocation of skills to work tasks. We present simple theoretical framework that shows different ways that such regulations might affect the way that dentists and dental hygienists are used in the production of dental services. We then use a large database of dental insurance claims to study the effects of the regulations on the prevailing prices of a set of basic dental services. Our empirical analysis exploits variation across states and over time in the list of services that may be provided by either type of worker. Our main results suggest that the task-specific occupational regulations increase prices by about 12%. We also examine the effects of related occupational regulations on the utilization of basic dental services. We find that allowing insurers to directly reimburse hygienists for their work increases one year utilization rates by 3–4 percentage points.

Estimating Unit Costs for Dental Service Delivery in Institutional and Community-Based Settings in Southern Thailand

In this cross-sectional study, the cost of different dental services was estimated and the unit costs of dental services for schoolchildren were compared between 2 settings: hospital-based and community-based mobile dental clinics. Heads of all departments in a selected community hospital were invited to attend 2 workshops to collect relevant data. Unit costs of different dental services varied from 41 to 2693 baht, with services falling into 4 unit cost groups: very high, high, moderate, and low. The very-high-unit-cost services included rehabilitative dental services. The high-unit-cost services covered removal of an impacted tooth, root canal treatment, and tooth-color fillings. The moderate-unit-cost group included a wide range of other dental services, with screening and oral hygiene instruction in community-based dental clinics falling into the low-unit-cost group. Generally, services provided in the community-based mobile clinic had lower unit costs than the same services provided in the hospital dental clinic.

Early preventive dental visits: effects on subsequent utilization and costs.

To determine the effects of early preventive dental visits on subsequent utilization and costs of dental services among preschool-aged children. This investigation studied North Carolina children who were enrolled continuously in Medicaid from birth for a 5-year period. Our research design was a longitudinal cohort study that relied on 4 large administrative datasets, including North Carolina composite birth records from 1992, Medicaid enrollment and claims files from 1992 to 1997, and the Area Resource File. Our outcome measures included type of use and dentally related costs. Of the 53591 Medicaid-enrolled children born in 1992, 9204 were continuously enrolled for 5 years and met our inclusion criteria. Twenty-three children had their first preventive dental visit before 1 year of age, 249 between 1 and 2 years, 465 between 2 and 3 years, 915 between 3 and 4 years, and 823 between 4 and 5 years. Children who had their first preventive dental visit by age 1 were more likely to have subsequent preventive visits but were not more likely to have subsequent restorative or emergency visits. Those who had their first preventive visit at age 2 or 3 were more likely to have subsequent preventive, restorative, and emergency visits. The age at the first preventive dental visit had a significant positive effect on dentally related expenditures, with the average dentally related costs being less for children who received earlier preventive care. The average dentally related costs per child according to age at the first preventive visit were as follows: before age 1, 262 dollars; age 1 to 2, 339 dollars; age 2 to 3, 449 dollars; age 3 to 4, 492 dollars; age 4 to 5, 546 dollars. Our results should be interpreted cautiously, because of the potential for selection bias; however, we concluded that preschool-aged, Medicaid-enrolled children who had an early preventive dental visit were more likely to use subsequent preventive services and experience lower dentally related costs. In addition, children from racial minority groups had significantly more difficulty in finding access to dental care, as did those in counties with fewer dentists per population.

Manajemen Krisis Pelayanan Kesehata Gigi

When the monetary crisis Indonesia is faring will end, could not be predicted at present hine. Meanwhile its unpacks have been already scan in all developmental sectors including infrastructure and economic paralysis, not to mention health sector. In dental health sector, the dental service utilisator, quality and community enabling to utilize have been decreasing. Other unpacks and dental service are the cost of dental services, the wealirning of people power to buddy and hardship a cross-subsidy program. It will take a crisis management shill to confront and anticipate those problems commencing dental health service. The core of a crisis management is the conficurecy leadership with a sensitivity to the changing and developing situation. Therefore the activity of dental health service centers stutter towards the situation will determine their institution survival in this crisis.

The dental hygienist as dental care advocate for persons with disabilities.

Although there is a trend towards reduction in the severity of dental disease in persons with disabilities, gaps in the provision of dental services remain. As an advocate of dental care for persons with disabilities, the dental hygienist can personalize the provision of dental services and assist in removing barriers to care. Currently, hygienists function as dental advocates in primary, secondary, and tertiary care settings to various degrees. However, the impact they have is affected by a number of factors, including limited numbers of trained personnel, lack of dental awareness of the public and other health professionals, and access issues such as the cost of dental services, transportation difficulties, and the poor design of office buildings and dental offices. As the dental needs of underserved individuals are increasingly emphasized, it should be expected that educational institutions will prepare more dental hygienists to serve persons with disabilities. This emphasis and the efforts of dental hygienist advocates currently working with other health service providers, health planners, legislators, and health financiers may help persons with disabilities receive needed dental services.

Survey of dental needs and estimated cost of dental care of a disadvantaged university population.

At the University of Connecticut, 115 disadvantaged students received dental examinations. There was a significant need for emergency dental care. The estimated cost of dental services for this group averaged $318.62 per student. The dental needs of disadvantaged and minority as well as all university students, should be addressed and services should be provided at least for needs of acute nature.

The Pediatrician in Community Dental Health

Dental disease in children is one of the most common health problems encountered.1-3 Fifty percent of children have one or more carious teeth by the age of 2 years. Gingivitis occurs in a major portion of the child population and may lead to periodontal disease, the leading cause of tooth loss in adults. Cleft palate, with or without cleft lip, occurs once in every 700 births. Half of the school-age population has some form of malocclusion. So prevalent are these problems and so great is the backlog of dental neglect, that treatment of these defects is beyond the capabilities of the limited dental manpower we have in this country. In addition, treatment is time-consuming and expensive and the costs of dental services are constantly rising. It is obvious from these facts that dental disease cannot be controlled by treatment alone. It is only by preventing the occurrence of new disease, beginning with the child, that the problem of dental disease can be brought into a manageable form. Pediatricians are in a unique position to have a significant impact on the dental health of their patients and communities. Since the pediatrician gives care to the child from birth, he can detect any existing abnormality early in life and promptly refer or treat the problem. Control of dental disease can best be accomplished if preventive measures are started shortly after birth. It is interesting to note that few children are seen by the dentist at the recommended age of 2½ to 3 years.