A comparison of costs in providing dental care for special needs patients under sedation or general anaesthesia in the North East of England.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the costs of providing dental treatment under general anaesthesia or sedation for special needs patients.


METHODS
After a Delphi exercise, a questionnaire was designed, piloted and then sent to nine NHS Trust dental service managers, within the Salaried Dental Services in the North East of England, to obtain information on the costs incurred during the treatment of special needs patients using sedation or general anaesthesia. The questionnaire related to the average number of such patients treated per session, staff costs, depreciation cost for buildings and equipment, and overhead costs including consumables and drugs.


RESULTS
All nine dental service managers returned completed questionnaires. The all-inclusive cost for treatment per patient under general anaesthesia ranged from 203.65-479.50 pounds (mean cost: 285.79 pounds) and for sedation from 57.60-153.50 pounds (mean cost: 90.81 pounds). On average three special needs patients were treated per session. The greatest variation in the costs for general anaesthesia was due to staffing costs, which ranged from 1064.10 to 350.00 pounds per session across the Trusts.


CONCLUSIONS
In the small number of centres sampled, the cost of delivering dental care under sedation or general anaesthesia was shown to vary widely. Overall, the mean cost of sedation was one-third that of general anaesthesia. However, the cost of both was substantial and cognisance needs to be taken of the costs of such services.
Prabhu
Neeta T
NT
Paediatric Dentistry, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia. neetaprabhu@hotmail.com
Nunn
June H
JH
Evans
David J
DJ
D000766:Anesthesia, Dental / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D017742:Dental Care for Chronically Ill / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D003730:Dental Care for Persons with Disabilities / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000191:economics*; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000191:economics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives