Economist report on socio-economic effect of periodontitis and how eliminating gingivitis is most cost-effective strategy in Germany
According to a recent report on the financial and human cost of periodontitis, commissioned by the EFP and published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a public-health strategy based on eliminating gingivitis (and preventing progression to periodontitis) would almost halve the costs involved in a “business as usual” approach in Germany.
According to the article, “Time to take gum disease seriously: According to research on the societal and financial effects of periodontitis, the “baseline” costs under the “business as usual” scenario total €20.9 billion over a ten-year period. The report clearly demonstrates that eradicating gingivitis is the most cost-effective course of action, and if it were implemented, costs would drop to just over €11.8 billion, resulting in an increase of 5.7 million healthy life years for the German population, and a substantial return-on-investment (ROI) – the ratio between gains and costs – of 57.5.
Bettina Dannewitz, president of the German Society of Periodontology (DG PARO) stated that “it was the first time that economists had stated that periodontal prevention saves costs and that this may attract the attention of politicians.”
We can benefit from those findings and strategies in Kurdistan and also other parts of Iraq in order to reduce the underestimated disease and economic burden of oral pathologies.
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