Dental needs and costs for patients from three social agencies

This study indicates that for these patients studied from Johnson County, Iowa, the County Home residents have more unmet basic dental needs than do patients from Goodwill Industries or Community Action programs. The mean cost of treating the dental needs of a County home resident was found to be approximately twice that of providing dental services to the other two social service agencies. This cost differential comes about as a result of two major factors: (1) the County Home residents seen have more unmet basic dental needs, and (2) they have proportionately more unmet dental needs in specialty areas that cost more per unit of treatment (i.e. periodontics, fixed prosthodontics, and removable prosthodontics). The mean treatment cost per patient seen from each of these agencies is $851.77 for County Home residents, $407.97 for Goodwill Industry clients, and $341.21 for Community Action clients. A follow-up of this study in regard to specific circumstances that contribute to the higher incidence of dental treatment needs of the Johnson County Home residents is recommended. Such additional information would be helpful to the effective design of dental health programs for implementation at the community level.