Goldman AS1, Chen X2, Fan M2, Frencken JE3.
Author information:
1Department of Oral Function and Prosthetic Dentistry, College of Dental Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. annieg@gwu.edu.
2Key Laboratory for Oral Biomedical Engineering, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
3Department of Oral Function and Prosthetic Dentistry, College of Dental Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Abstract
This study, conducted from a government program perspective, compared the incremental cost-effectiveness of oral health interventions, in particular their delivery to underserved populations in whom dental sealants constitute an important, high-yielding complement to toothbrushing in dental-caries prevention. The study data concern the relative cost-effectiveness of three sealant materials in four approaches to prevent cavitated dentine carious lesions in permanent molars in a community intervention trial among school-age children in Wuhan, China. The four approaches were high-viscosity glass-ionomer cement without heat application (HVGIC); high-viscosity glass-ionomer cement with heat application [light-emitting diode (LED) thermocured HVGIC]; glass-carbomer; and composite resin. The costs studied were: cost of sealing permanent molars; adverse event costs for restoring cavitated dentine carious lesions developing within 4 yr in study data; and projections of 1,000 sealants per group. Preventing one more cavitated dentine carious lesion cost US$105 for the study data when comparing HVGIC (n = 405) with composite resin (n = 396) and US$59 per 1,000 sealants in the projections; LED thermocured HVGIC compared with composite resin cost US$115 for one more cavitated lesion and US$52 per 1,000 sealants, respectively. Although more expensive than composite resin, LED thermocured HVGIC was identified as the most cost-effective among the sealant materials studied. Ease of application, minimal technical and infrastructure requirements, and cost-effectiveness make glass-ionomers a practicable option for governments making decisions under economic constraints.
© 2016 Eur J Oral Sci.
PMID: 27666137 [PubMed – in process] 1. Eur J Oral Sci. 2016 Oct;124(5):472-479. doi: 10.1111/eos.12296. Epub 2016 Sep 26.