The cost of treating children and adolescents with injuries to their permanent incisors at a dental hospital in the United Kingdom

Abstract –  The aim was to estimate the total cost, including the direct costs (outpatient costs) and indirect costs (missed working day) of treating children and adolescents with traumatic injuries to their incisors. Factors such as the number of treatment visits and the success of outcome were also investigated. The sample was taken from patients who attended the dental trauma clinic at a London teaching hospital between 1990 and 2001. Eighty-one patients, with 111 traumatized incisors were included in this study. The mean age was 9.9 (SD = 2.33) years and the male:female ratio was 3:2. The median number of visits and median treatment duration were eight visits and 21 months, respectively. Sixty-two per cent of the patients lived >5 miles and 25% lived >10 miles from the hospital; 44% of the patients had uncomplicated and 56% had complicated trauma to their incisors. Accidental falls, falls involving a second person, sport-related injuries and road accidents accounted for 30, 22, 22 and 17% of the total injuries. For uncomplicated trauma, 97% of the patients had a successful outcome but this was reduced to 58% for complicated trauma. The average total cost of treating a patient with one traumatic injury was £856. The best predictor for higher number of visits and unsuccessful outcome was complicated trauma with odd ratios of 4.5 and 24 (95% CI 1.5–13.7 and 2.9–194.2), respectively. It was concluded that the indirect cost was a considerably large proportion (39%) of the total cost. More specialists in paediatric dentistry are needed to improve access to care locally and thus reducing the indirect travelling cost.