An economic evaluation of a publicly funded dental prevention programme inregional and rural Victoria: an extrapolated analysis

Objective To determine the long-term cost-benefit of a community-wide, publ icly-funded dental prevention programme. Design A modelled economic analysi s which extrapolated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness results of a three-year comprehensive preventive dental programme conducted in a single cohort of adolescents in the non-fluoridated towns of Geelong and Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Assumptions were made for both benefits and costs. Se nsitivity analysis was undertaken to report a range of estimates of potenti al programme benefits. Setting All secondary colleges in two non-fluoridate d regional centres and their surrounding rural areas. Subjects All Year 7 t o 9 students; mean age range of 12.5 to 15.5 years. Results The incremental benefit-to-cost ratios under all assumptions improved with each successive year of the community-wide programme and, even with the most conservative of assumptions, the overall ten-year benefit-to-cost ratio was above unity. Conclusion While the analysis has inherent limitations as a result of its reliance on a range of assumptions, the findings do suggest that there are benefits to be gained from the implementation of a comprehensive dental pre ventive programme throughout the secondary school system in non-fluoridated centres comparable to Geelong and Ballarat.