Table 3.
A: Estimated annual costs of each dental intervention
| Intervention Type | Annual undiscounted program costs* | Annual discounted program cost (one year only)+ | Total discounted program costs (10 years)+ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current Pop** | Ideal Pop** | Current Pop | Ideal Pop | Current Pop | Ideal Pop | |
| Water Fluoridation | $18,125 | $200,280 | $17,597 | $194,447 | $154,610 | $797,303 |
| Dental Sealants | $12,420 | $226,938 | $12,058 | $220,328 | $105,945 | $1,935,829 |
| Fluoride Varnish | $62,923 | $146,775 | $61,090 | $142,500 | $536,747 | $1,252,021 |
| Toothbrush/Toothpaste | $62,315 | $113,000 | $60,500 | $110,000 | $531,560 | $966,472 |
| Initial Exams | $10,851 | $38,179 | $10,535 | $37,067 | $92,559 | $325,671 |
| B: Comparison of Annual (undiscounted Year 1) estimates for each intervention at minimum effectiveness | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome Measure | Water Fluoridation | Dental Sealants | Fluoride Varnish | Toothbrush/Toothpaste | Initial Exams |
| # Children Covered | 929 | 250 | 1311 | 1416 | 162 |
| # children w/cariesa | 65 | 18 | 95 | 103 | 11 |
| Total # of cariesa | 525 | 141 | 740 | 799 | 91 |
| % Effectiveness | .26 | .71 | .18 | .21 | .22 |
| # of Caries Avertedb | 137 | 39 | 133 | 168 | 20 |
| Annual Program $c | $18,125 | $12,420 | $62,923 | $62,315 | $10,851 |
| Annual Averted $d | $200,245 | $58,833 | $195,347 | $246,158 | $29,503 |
| Program $ per childc | $278 | $690 | $662 | $605 | $986 |
| Averted $ per childd | $3,081 | $3,269 | $2,056 | $2,390 | $2,682 |
Notes:
Annual estimated costs are the calculated undiscounted costs determined from the actual cost of supplying the intervention and any additional costs associated with the implementation of the intervention into the population.
Current pop (population) is defined as the current (‘present day”) number of people receiving the intervention. Ideal population is defined as the maximum number of people that could benefit from the use of the intervention. The cost for each population type is calculated using the product between population coverage rates and the intervention unit costs (Table 2).
Discounted costs are the actual present value (PV) of implementing the specific intervention to the population for the selected timeframe based upon the intervention specific estimated (i.e. budgeted) costs. All discounted costs are calculated as Current $/(1+discount rate)ˆspecified timeframe.
# of children with caries is calculated by multiplying the population by caries incidence (7.3%), whereas the # of caries is calculated by multiplying the number of children with caries by the mean number of carious teeth per child (7.73).
# of caries averted is the product between the total number of caries and the percentage of effectiveness. Hint: the % effectiveness for dental sealants is multiplied by .40 to to obtain the actual % effectiveness of preventing carious teeth amongst the total mouth of children (~20 teeth). The effectiveness value shown only represents that of permanent molar teeth and not the whole mouth.
Annual program cost was calculated earlier (See Methods: Section D for Equation 2.4). This is the undiscounted cost for using the intervention to treat children with carious teeth. The program cost per child is calculated by dividing the annual program cost by the number of children with caries.
Annual averted cost is the product between the number of caries averted and the cost of treating caries ($1,467 per child). The averted cost per child is the annual averted cost divided by the number of children with caries.