title: Economic aspects of dental care in Finnish health centers.
abstract: In recent years economic evaluations of publicly funded governmental and community based activities have become more common. Although the Public Dental Service in Finland has been in operation for 17 yr, little is known of the effectiveness of the system. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness, output and costs of dental care using available data from 34 randomly selected health centers during 1982-85. Great differences were found in running expenses and productivity between the health centers studied. The study indicated that dental care arrangements tended to be more expensive in communities with high governmental subsidies than in those with low ones. The ratio of chairside assistants to dentists was also shown to have a statistically significant positive correlation with the cost of a dental visit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Dentistry, University of Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Utriainen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Widström
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004245:DMF Index; D003727:Dental Auxiliaries; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics; D003740:Dental Clinics / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D003815:Dentists; D004526:Efficiency; D005387:Finland; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006801:Humans; D012923:Social Class; D000078329:Workforce